Grace & Moji On the Making Of “Monster”
What was the initial spark or idea that led to the creation of "Monster?"
Martin (Moji): As far as I remember we basically had an argument when we were drunk. Haha. It was a time before we, I guess, truly figured out how we communicate properly and it resulted in some drunken rage...
Grace: Well, that’s true. I wouldn’t say “rage,” but I was triggered. It was two days after Christmas, and we had just written the first song on our EP Simple Love, so it was a time period when the dynamics in our relationship were pretty sensitive. We wrote three of the five songs on our EP in pretty quick succession.
Walk us through your writing and production process in making "Monster".
Martin: We did pretty much all of it in one day! The way we work is usually that we have an idea for a concept, which is pretty much always something we've lived or that we're going through. “Monster” started with me having an old voice note on my phone of me playing the main guitar riff, and that voice note is what's in the song. The "here we go, here we go" is literally me trying to play it a bit cleaner just in case we'd end up using it. I guess we matched that guitar riff with the concept idea and started writing. How we write is usually that there might be some initial musical idea and perhaps a concept, and then Grace starts just outputting lyric ideas on a page. Just free writing lines however they come. And then she shares those with me, and I usually get a strong sense of direction when reading certain lyrics. I tend to have something we like to call "Moji intuitions" which is basically me reacting violently emotionally to an idea and then we know we have to use that idea. It's pretty convenient, haha. We're both very tapped into our emotions and Grace & Moji would not exist without that.
Grace: We had fun with it, and this one flowed quickly. We didn’t really have many moments of pausing while we were writing the song. It was easy because it was so genuine, and we didn’t really have to think too much about what we were saying. We were in the moment.
What was your favorite moment in making the music video?
Martin: Definitely the last bit where we're partying and going crazy with confetti and champagne! The cleanup was intense though, shoutout to our amazing crew!
Grace: Definitely not the part when it was so hot that my makeup started melting off my face haha. It was all a blast actually, and just fun to see it all come together in the moment when we had conceptualized it in advance without exactly knowing how it would come together. The U-haul with all the equipment in it got stolen in the morning, so we had to scramble to get new equipment rentals and a new U-haul. It was an adventure.
How would you describe your musical style or genre?
Martin: It's like if indie music from 2000-2010 went and did ayahuasca in the Amazonian jungle.
Grace: What Moji said… I like that it feels like the early 2000s but that we break the mold and keep people surprised. We often break standard song structures and go on a bit of an adventure with a lot of distinct parts and surprising moments. I think that’s sort of becoming part of our thing. Because it’s Martin, it will also have a lot of epic progressions.
Where do you find inspiration for your songs or musical ideas?
Martin: When it comes to songwriting, the inspiration is always life. We haven't written a single song together that wasn't inspired by something we've lived and felt. But I also have tons of voice notes with little ideas that come when I least expect it, or that have come while just jamming on a guitar. So there's always something to go off to inspire you, and then we allow ourselves to just do whatever we feel in the writing and recording process, so all the songs are very inspiring and expressive. And I think it's crucial that it stays that way for as long as possible.
Grace: That’s true. Martin was recording a voice note at the airport in Athens while putting luggage into a cab. I appreciate being in creative flow and having gotten to a place in our relationship where we can communicate and imagine a song in shorthand in a way. For example, Martin played me this unintelligible voice note with his title idea while we were having breakfast in Athens and asked me what I thought the song could be, and we immediately locked in on developing the idea. That’s how it often works. I just hope we’ll find some time to record all of these songs...