Brought to you by Norwegian Grammy winner & Tove Lo collaborator Lucas Nord, Rasmus Flyckt previously of indie-pop outfit Urban Cone, and Kygo collaborator and remix mastermind Oliver Nelson, Moodshift is a trio built upon a seamless blending of eclectic styles. DMCWORLD check in with the magical trio…
Could you guys delve a little into the backstory on how you came to calling the group ‘Moodshift’?
We were going back and forth with a whole list of different names when we started out. I think we spent like 2 months just adding new ones every day but nothing really felt right. We had some names with different variations of “shift” which just stuck for some reason and then Oliver came up with the name “Moodshift”. At the same time he also came up with the idea of the logo with a happy smiley on one side and a sad smiley on the other side and it instantly clicked. It just represented the music and the vibe we were going for in a great way.
Your weekly Monday mixes are looked forward to by many — what was the impetus behind consistently releasing these week-in and week-out?
We wanted to come up with a fun way to introduce Moodshift to the dance music community and needed something to do during quarantine so we thought doing a weekly mix series was a good idea. We thought about doing it every other week or monthly but Moodshift Monday Mix sounded too good haha.
Has getting your collective creative juices flowing during lockdown via routinely crafting mixes each week helped production-wise when crafting new tunes, like your latest debut single ‘Chemistry’?
We haven’t really had any type of lockdown here in Sweden so we’ve been able to stay in the studio writing but yeah, making the mixes has definitely helped regardless. Since we have to find new tracks or go back to old gems that we love, we definitely get inspired and come up with new ideas. Whether that’s a lyrical idea, arrangement, or just a sound/ sample, the Monday mixes definitely help us in our creative process.
Creatively, what influences you guys as a trio of dance music DJ/producers?
We’ve all dabbled in all different types of dance music in our solo careers so I think we just naturally blend all those together when writing specifically for Moodshift. We all come from playing instruments and want everything to have some type of groove that isn’t too static. And since we’re from Sweden and have pop melodies running through our veins, we definitely focus a lot on writing something catchy with infectious vocal melodies most of the time which we love.
Your new track ‘Chemistry’ has well over 600,000 combined streams across platforms in just only a little under 3 weeks since its initial release — what does it feel like to see such impressive numbers this early on?
It’s definitely been an incredible feeling seeing “Chemistry” get the response it’s been getting so far. We always knew it had potential and thought this could be something, but at the same time, we’ve all had songs we said the same thing about so you never know. And with that said we’re very happy with where it is now!
What’s the best part about being able to mix versus producing music of your own?
I feel like the best part of mixing and playing is all about the reaction you get from people. When you feel that energy in the room you know. And then the best part about producing the music is finding that feeling within yourself and translating that energy into a finished product – there is no other feeling like it.
According to your mixes and new track, your music’s style runs a wide gamut of genres. Collectively, what’s your favorite genre of dance music to both listen to and produce?
If we had to just pick one I think we’d say some type of sample-based house music.
‘Chemistry’ features a driving vocal that really fleshes out the tune in all the best ways possible. Are you guys considering featuring more vocalists in upcoming projects as well?
So far we have vocals on pretty much all of our tracks and Rasmus sings on all of them. But we currently don’t have any outside features lined up. We’re definitely open to it as long as it feels right and fits the project!
What’s in the pipeline for the future of Moodshift as a group? Any exciting new mix plans, singles, EPs, or anything else worth noting coming up?
We’re just in the studio 24/7 right now working on new material. We got a lot of fun stuff coming up and we’ll have at least one more track out this fall!
