Adelaide producer Motez turns his attention to creating 'dance music with a purpose' with his forthcoming new single 'Steady Motion' due in February.
In 2018, Motez dropped his 'Late Thoughts' EP, a two-track record that paid homage to his club roots. Working with Zimbabwean singer Kwaye, Motez delves into a more personal, introspective space on 'Steady Motion'.
“'Steady Motion' is an emotionally visceral and raw song about getting on the hamster wheel of work and forgetting about yourself and not being able to stop,” Motez explains.
“The song is about getting lost in work, being on the road and being alone; working on the song itself while I was on the road was almost poetic in a way; it's a very cathartic song.”
Motez represents a breed of producer that's eschewing straightforward dance and electronic music to incorporate qualities more akin to those of a singer-songwriter. “It's a really good time now because there's a good possibility for a crossover,” he says.
“Club music has become pop music and it's opened the door to exploring that singer-songwriter sensibility in an electronic framework, and there's a lot of people that work in that electronic framework but it's actually a singer-songwriter structure.
“It's given me that artistic licence to pursue it that way, and I've said it before but I didn't grow up with dance or club music, I grew up with pop music mostly so it's a really good chance for me to flex my muscles in that way.”
As he shifts toward a new creative dynamic, Motez says his evolving interests has a producer have him wanting to explore more serious aspects of his musicality. “I think I've found a lot of dance music, these days in particular, it's a bit more predictable and that really bores me so I wanted to make it more interesting,” he says.
Motez goes on to say that with a new outlook on his craft in the studio, he's also revising how he goes about presenting his shows in the live context, opting for a more dramatic visual aesthetic that's he's hoping to try out on crowds at Circus Paradise on the Gold Coast.
Sharing the line-up with distinguished electronic acts such as Charlotte de Witte, Oliver Huntemann and Supernova, Motez says Circus Paradise is the right set and setting for the style of music he's working on at the moment. “It's a good time to play that stuff so I think Circus Paradise will be perfect for it and I'm in the right company,” he says.
“I'm trying to do shows in a bit of a different way, particularly the setting of where I'm doing them. I'm trying to flex my muscles from a showmanship perspective; we're probably going to have a different sort of visual setup and more of a premeditated journey for the shows, and I think having a festival setup is really good to showcase that.”
'Steady Motion' is due in February.
Motez Australia Tour 2019
Sat 12 Jan - For Shore (Bribie Island)Sat 16 Feb - For The Love (Melbourne)
Fri 22 Feb - Royal Croquet Club (Adelaide)
Sun 10 Mar - Circus Paradise Music Festival (Gold Coast)
Sun 17 Mar - Up Down Festival (Newcastle)
