Mooglie returned to Sapiens at the end of October with his ‘Aaliyah’ EP, the french artist has been slowly honing his contemporary electronic take on his sound and in our exclusive interview he details how he first got into producing, the faith Agoria has shown in his talent and how he’s taking strong steps to focus on the music fulltime this year.

WWD: Thanks for speaking with us, to start, could you tell us who Mooglie is and a bit about your background?

Thank you for having me. It is a pleasure to answer your questions! Mooglie is an electronic music project I started in January 2019. I started music around 10, playing guitar then guitarbass in different Parisian rock bands. I used synthesizers and drums machines for the first time in 2013 and kept producing different kinds of electronic music since then. Music has never been a career plan for me until this year, when I signed my first solo EP on Agoria’s imprint, Sapiens. I decided to quit my job in finance and focus fully on music.

WWD: When you first got into producing, who were your main influences, your very much into contemporary sounds, right?

To be honest, you can find a touch of jazz in all my music. Almost all of my melodies are created while jamming on jazz rhythms with my guitars. It is my main musical influence at the moment and the kind of music I listen to most. I started music when I discovered The Rolling Stones and they are huge jazz and blues fans and we both admire artists such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Marcus Miller, John Lee Hooker. 

I personally feel that a lot of modern music is based on the revolutionary Kind Of Blue album by Miles Davis (1959) – and listening to it completely changed my vision and perception of the musical area we are in. Without this album, 60’s Pop-Rock music would have been very different – if you look at The Beatles’ artwork or even Prince’s work. Miles opened the way to electronic music by democratising the use of drum machines and synthesizers while exploring Jazz Fusion in the 70’s. I want to keep this in mind when creating my melodic techno tracks. It is my way of paying my respects to these legends and all of what their music has brought me – not only in a musical way but also in terms of emotions, memories and moments listening to it. 

WWD: Tell us about how everything came to fruition between yourself, Sapiens and Agoria?

It all started by me going to a festival called Hangar in Brussels and when I first went, I enjoyed the quality of their events then I couldn’t miss one edition after that. The production was very tasty, the artists were happy to play there and we could feel it in the crowd. I then became close friends with the organizing team and particularly Marvin who later became my manager, more about this will be announced soon. We stayed in touch through the years talking about music, releases and artists. And naturally as my composition level improved, he sent one of my records to Sebastien (Agoria) who liked it and proposed to sign it. I think the fact that Seb and his team was French, as I am, facilitated our first contact but they were immediately very responsive, trustful and nice to me. I am really happy and proud today to be a part of the Sapiens family.

WWD: Tell us about being involved with Regeneration Day on Sapiens – you released the ‘Prelude’ EP, we premiered a track from the release in fact back in May, tell us how you think the reaction was to that release.

When I signed that EP, which was my first solo release I never imagined it could have the impact it had on my career. It wasn’t the release of the year of course but reaching 1 million streams on Spotify was meaningful for me and encouraged me to fully focus on music and to consider a career in the industry. Also, I received many support from artists I respect a lot, it was a nice feeling to gain consideration from musicians who inspire me. 

WWD: If you could play anywhere in the world, and at any particular venue, where would that be?

Tough question ahah. As I said I am a big fan of Hangar and the Brussels audience so of course I can’t wait to play there. But many venues around the world attract me like Rex in Paris, Fabric in London or Fuse in Brussels and of course some festivals like DGTL, Sonar or Awakenings. I am now trying to build a live set that I hope I’ll be able to play next year.

WWD: You now present the recently released Aaliyah EP on Sapiens- what inspired it and how does it differ from the previous music you’ve put out?

This EP was mainly produced or at least finished during the lockdown we are facing because of Covid-19. I had as much time as I needed to deepen my production skills and techniques. Therefore, I wanted to make an EP with various influences and different kinds of tracks. My project Mooglie is still very young, and I’m still experiencing a bit different styles. Being locked down, it was a bit hard sometimes to create music made for clubs/festivals so I also wanted to produce tracks that could easily be streamed at home. I worked a lot on textures and bass lines, as they do in more alternative music scenes like The xx, The Strokes or 60’s Blues bands. 

WWD: Please share one track with us which you would consider to be one of your favourites.

Tough question again haha. One track I love particularly is “La question” released by Gesaffelstein in 2009. The structural simplicity and his sharpness impressed me every time I listened to it. It is just genius and unique. 

WWD: Can you let us know what other projects you are working on?

As I told you I am working on building a live, which takes me a lot of time. I also started another exciting project but it’s a bit early to talk about it.. I can tell you for sure that I will release a lot of new stuff in the beginning of 2021 🙂

‘Aaliyah’ EP is out now on Beatport.