Movulango

Movulango’s debut EP, ‘Mirror in Man’, is proof that you shouldn’t put a time limit on creativity. An utterly fresh five-track musical adventure taking in psychedelic folk jams, woozy electronica and looped-up beats, it is the culmination of a five-year process for Movulango, the alter ego of 25-year-old Belgian musician and producer, Mozes Mosuse.

It's a journey that has seen Mozes transform from dancefloor-slaying producer (his previous credits include being one-half of Ego Troopers and Future Sound of Antwerp) to a kind of West Coast pop art Balearic troubadour.

“He’s one of the people that we’ve worked with the longest before his music comes out,” says Soulwax’s David Dewaele, co-founder of DEEWEE, the label releasing ‘Mirror in Man’, and the Ghent-based studio where Movulango honed his sound with the Dewaele siblings. “Between us, we’ve gradually built it to the point where it sounds, to us anyway, like he’s found his voice. To us he’s making music like no-one else. He’s making connections like no-one else. It’s super, super personal and super emotional.”

Emerging as a pre-teen into a musical landscape that was dominated by the likes of Justice, Daft Punk and Ed Banger Records, the young Movulango was triggered by those in-your-face, incendiary sounds. He tried to replicate them in GarageBand. He began DJing, and aged 15, alongside his musical partner Oliver Geerts (today one-half of DEEWEE acid house faves Asa Moto) he was booked to play the Dewaele’s 2manydjs parties.

The sonic voyage was only just beginning. In his late teens he discovered Krautrock. Neu!, Can, Harmonia and co became his new set texts. He immersed himself in this new experimental expressiveness.

“That whole spaciness was really interesting,” he recalls. “And it wasn’t, like, bands bands. I mean they were bands, but they still felt electronic and relevant.”

Dots were being joined. The Beach Boys and the Beatles were added to the mix. The harmonies sunk into his head. Something was brewing.

“I remember thinking: ‘I have to put this in music. I can see a clear pattern here. I can see things overlapping.’”

Always incredibly prolific, he began writing music in a new way. Vague sketches began to form. Some of it – to his ears anyway – was verging on pop music. He started singing. But he was reticent to play Steph and Dave his new music. He felt it was too pop. Eventually, he showed them what he had been working on. The brothers immediately recognised its potential.

Working together over the last five years, the trio have turned what sometimes begins as “four chords and a cheap melody” (his description) into something way more modern and interesting. As if Beck was collaborating with J Dilla.

And following his first Movulango track – ‘Leave’ – on the DEEWEE compilation, ‘Foundations’, last year, comes ‘Mirror in Man’. It’s clearly been worth the wait.

Opening track, ‘The Peak’, marries 60s psychedelia with wistful, ultra-fresh electronics; ‘Too Absurd’ recalls the fuzzy hypnotism of prime The Beta Band; the hazy, cosmic Americana of ‘Through the Motions’ hints at a latter-day Arthur Lee; ‘Other Way’ nods at The Flaming Lips, Spiritualized and Vangelis; and closer ‘Dozed Off’ sees Mozes reach the apex of space rock minstrel.

“We’ve always called him the psychedelic romantic of the studio,” laughs David.

As for the songs themselves, they’re highly-charged and extremely heartfelt.

“It’s hard for me to talk about as they are so personal,” he reflects. “It’s like a painful mirror that’s put in front of you. And you drew a picture from that and now you have to look at this painful picture you drew each time. I’m definitely going to write more abstract lyrics in future! But music has proven to be a quite therapeutic outlet for me at certain points of my life. I really needed to get it out of my system.”

And for that we are extremely thankful. Thankful for the music. Thankful for his creative compulsion. Thankful for the gift of time.