Moyka has spent the last few years building a world of her own. Emerging from Norway with an electronic pop sound that feels simultaneously ethereal, melancholic and made for movement, she first caught wider attention supporting Sigrid on her Norway tour. Since then, she has taken her music across Europe. Later this month Now, on October 16, Moyka opens the doors to that world with Bullseye, her debut album. Written and recorded across Bergen, Stockholm, London, Berlin and Oslo, the album took shape over several years as she waited for the right collaborators and, more importantly, the right moment to make the record entirely on her own terms. Growing up, music offered Moyka a place to belong. We spoke to her as she builds that place for others through music.
You’re based in Bergen, which I’ve heard is even rainier than my hometown of Seattle. I’m starting to think there might actually be something to the theory that rain makes good musicians. What is it about the city that makes it such a good place to grow up as a musician?
Although I live in Bergen, I did not grow up here, which sometimes makes me feel a bit insane that I chose to move to the rainiest city in Europe of my own free will! I moved here from Hallingdal to study music production when I was 19, and found some incredible people here that I’m lucky to call my friends and collaborators. While living here I’ve come up with the theory that because it rains so much, people have no other choice but to stay inside and find fun indoor activities, and maybe that’s when some people decide to pick up an instrument or a computer and really focus on that. I also think that the music community in Bergen is really supportive and encouraging for artists here.
You grew up in Norway, and you’ve talked about music being a refuge for you. What did you listen to as a teenager when you wanted to disappear for a while?
Lots of Paramore, Lana Del Rey, Lorde, Bon Iver and in my later teens, Tame Impala, Lykke Li, Susanne Sundfør, Robyn & Röyksopp.
What’s the most Norwegian thing about you?
That I drink ridiculous amounts of coffee (and that I need to be close to nature).
What’s the least Norwegian thing about you?
That I don’t like Brunost (brown cheese) (some Norwegians may see this as a crime).
You’ve described BULLSEYE as a kind of self portrait. In Icarus you mention comparing yourself to others, what did you discover about yourself while making it that you perhaps weren’t expecting?
With ‘Icarus’, it was the first time touching on some of my insecurities surrounding my career, which felt super vulnerable, because it felt like admitting that things weren’t as great as I try to make it look on Instagram, you know? Being an artist in this age of social media, it feels like it’s all about blowing things up and making everything look bigger than it actually is, which sometimes feels so fragile when you’re struggling to pay your bills the next month. With that said, I feel so incredibly lucky that I get to be a touring artist, and that I get to release the music that I love and am so proud of. I would say that I learned that I’m not alone in feeling this way. It takes a lot of resilience to build something you want to be sustainable, and I’m in it for the long run.
There’s something quite interesting about the idea of escapism in BULLSEYE, especially because you describe escapism as something that eventually leads you back to yourself. What do you personally escape into when real life gets a bit too loud?
I escape into making or listening to music, watching movies, reading, writing, hanging out with friends or running into nature.
The album has been developing over several years, sometimes that can eat someone alive. After listening to the lyrics which at some points touches obsession, I’m curious about a concrete example. Have you ever held onto a person, idea, relationship or dream for longer than you should have because you were convinced you couldn’t let it go?
Yes, for sure. I feel like the album touches on this on several songs, since this is a recurring theme throughout my life. It’s a pattern I’ve been working on trying to break, but it’s very hard sometimes. I am a stubborn taurus and I love to see things through, so I tend to stay in situations that may not be good for me because I have some kind of conviction that it will work out somehow. You can hear that in both ‘Icarus’, ‘Black Swans’ and ‘Gemini’, but especially in ‘Villain of Your Story’.
After spending so long living with these songs, are you ready to stop being obsessed with BULLSEYE and let it belong to everyone else?
YES!!!!! I can’t wait for it to be out and to be yours, finally.
The album is ethereal and melancholic but still made for dancing. There’s also this ongoing idea that Gen Z is killing nightlife because they supposedly don’t go out, don’t drink and would rather stay home. Do you think Gen Z is actually killing club culture, or have we just entered a different era of dancing?
I think it’s too simple to put the blame on Gen Z with all the craziness going on in the world affecting culture in so many ways. There’s been big economical and cultural shifts ever since the pandemic, which shut down so many clubs and venues, not to mention what it did to cause more introverted habits. I think we have entered a different era of dancing, and I think this is something that will evolve forever. Although at a time of so much turbulence in the world, it’s important we protect it! We need to dance as human beings!!!!
You’ve worked with Eirik Hella for a long time, alongside collaborators including Coucheron and Sebastian Furrer. How do you know when someone belongs inside the Moyka universe?
For me it’s really important that I feel like the people I’m working with understand which direction I want to go in and the vibe and feeling of what I want to express. Sometimes it feels unexplainable. It’s just this beautiful connection of creativity which feels really fun and magical. I feel so lucky to have worked with so many incredible songwriters and producers during the making of this record, and I will confidently say that all these people have a home in the universe.
We live in a time when everyone is constantly curating their own image online. Do you think authenticity has become another kind of performance and how do you stay authentic in your music?
For sure! I would go as far as to say that everything we put online is a performance in some way or another. I often think about this famous quote from Björk where she says: «The minute I need to start pleasing five people, I won’t please anyone. But if I only please myself, I might please ten people, you see. The more selfish you are, the more generous you are. As contradictory as that sounds.” This reminds me that the music has to come from you, the artist. Your job is to express something directly from you, and something that is important to you, not to please anyone else. If you start listening to outside voices, that’s when you lose the plot. That’s why it’s so important to me, with every project I make, that I feel like I’ve learned something new, that I went somewhere I was maybe too scared to go at first, and that I’ve pushed myself creatively, so I can become a better artist.
You’ve played everything from festivals like Øya and Bergenfest to supporting Sigrid in Norway, including her arena debut at Dublin’s 3Arena. What’s the most glamorous thing you’ve ever done on tour versus the least glamorous?
The most glamorous has been to be booked to fancy five-stars hotels when playing concerts and festivals. The least glamorous is to have food poisoning on a tour bus.
Let’s talk fashion. What does your ideal stage look involve?
Broad shoulders, it always makes me feel powerful. Dark or washed colours. There’s always something cool about fabrics that slightly change colour in the light. And of course: chunky shoes!
And if you could raid one musician’s wardrobe, living or dead, whose would it be?
Lykke Li. She’s just the coolest!
Is there something you’re currently obsessed with that has absolutely nothing to do with music?
My bike! I looooove my bike. It’s just a normal commuter bike, nothing fancy or expensive at all, but it’s just something so magical with it. I love that it can take me anywhere with the power of my own body. Whenever I’m biking I feel like I’m 12 years old again: free with a feeling that anything is possible.
Do you have a go to karaoke song?
The Climb by Miley Cyrus.
If you could force everyone listening to BULLSEYE to do one thing while listening to it, what would you want them to be doing?
MOVE. YOUR. BODY!!! (It feels really good, I promise).
And finally, what would make you feel like you’ve hit your own bullseye with this album?
I felt like it did that during the writing of it, but maybe sharing it and playing it live will hit another one? Only time will tell.
Bullseye releases on 16th October. Follow her @moykamusic
Photography by Sara W. Karslen for VEIN MAGAZINE
