Recently, Portugal’s prodigal son of the indie dancefloor, Moullinex, has been making dashing leaps into different soundscapes showing a real finesse for cross-genre production. His newest single “What U Do,” featuring talkbox wizard Lorenz Rhode on vocal duties, is the Moullinex we love and know with years of perspective in the game combined with a need to look forward into the future of the indie dance genre. And in going forward, he decides to go to the past for inspiration. As the track’s liner notes explain, “What U Do” came from a place which embraces the 80’s modern soul vibe of artists like Stevie Wonder producing a colorful palette for listeners to sink themselves into that, like contemporaries Tuxedo or Chromeo have shown, is something the dance genre is hungry for.
In a lot of ways, this feels like a continuation of Moullinex’s fascination with the cyclical nature of music which, for example, was seen in his cover of Prince’s “Controversy” from a few months back. And that’s the perfect way to explain the nature of indie dance in general, isn’t it: a fascination with something old which becomes something fresh and new for a new generation of nightlife. It all comes back around and as Moullinex evolves, we are fortunate enough to see him wield this power to novel effect.
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