When it comes to musicians whose work I’ve consistently held in the highest regard, France-based producer Moe Shop seemingly strikes a chord every time. His hyper-groovy jams have been on repeat since I first stumbled across “You Look So Good” on Bandcamp, and the producer has been going nowhere but up since then. With a collaboration with Ujico*/Snail’s House and an official remix for Fusq (w/ MYLK) under his belt, Moe Shop today dropped the addictively sweet “Charm” alongside Japan-based vocalist and producer Puniden.
Tugging on the heart-strings of listeners, “Charm” offers a glimpse into the current direction that Moe Shop is striding towards. With a clear-cut Bossa nova influence towards the latter half of the song, we find ourselves whisked away by the lyrical stylings of Puniden on an adventure into the night. If there was ever a perfect match when it comes to the realm of music, it would have to be both Moe Shop and Puniden.
We sat down with Moe Shop over a coffee and strawberry milk to discuss his latest single, as well a special announcement he has in regards to future plans. We also reached out to Puniden for her insight into the lyrics; both of which can be found below:
Moe Shop:
Overall, the process of creating this song was a whole lot of fun. I made the instrumental back in France over the course of three-days with a whole bunch of inspiration, going for somewhat of a Persona 5 vibe. I’d been following Puniden online for quite some time, and I wanted to see if she’d be down to work with me. I reached out on Twitter, and she got back to me almost immediately saying she’d love to. The whole process was a lot of fun, it didn’t feel like ‘business’ at all, but more like two good friends working together. Things went smoothly, and we were constantly shooting our work back and forward between the two of us. For the artwork, I reached out to a Japanese artist I’ve been following for some time, and have so much praise for, Kogecha. It was interesting breaking through the language barrier, but we managed to make it work.
Looking forward into the future, the direction I’m taking now is a much more personal approach, branching further into the Japanese music scene in an effort to present some of the incredible talent there to the world. I’m stepping away from sampling, and getting more into actual synthesizers and jamming out on them. Everything feels more personal this way, and that’s something I’ve been working towards since ‘Pastel’ with Ujico.
For the past seven months, I’ve been working in secret on a new EP in both France and Japan, constantly flying between the two countries. I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside a number of Japanese artists I look up to, and I’m definitely excited for that EP to drop early 2018. I don’t want to reveal too much right now, but three of the artists that are locked down include Toriena, Puniden, and MYLK. You’ll see a few other names join them on the release, but we’re still working out logistics there. It’ll be super exciting to finally get this out to all of you, and I hope everyone enjoys it.
Puniden:
When working on the track, I listened to Moe Shop’s instrumental time and time again. It was from those listening sessions that I found myself inspired to create the overall theme of the lyrics. There’s an image of a girl who is equal parts cute and promiscuous gracefully strolling the streets during the night. Within the lyrics, I wanted to make sure the idea of her being both cute and promiscuous was properly presented.
I couldn’t have been more grateful to work with Moe Shop, and 100% enjoyed the entire process. I hope you enjoy our new song “Charm”!
With a focus on the talents of Japan, we couldn’t be more excited to see what Moe Shop pulls off in his latest EP. If you’re interested in checking out more from both Moe Shop and Puniden, we’ve hyperlinked there profiles down below.
Moe Shop: SoundCloud // YouTube // Twitter
Puniden: SoundCloud // Twitter // Bandcamp