"Although I didn't write this song, it spoke to me in a way that made me feel as if it was my own story,” Brandon said. “I found myself playing it over and over again in my bedroom, remembering situations that I've been through.”
Check out the video for yourself below.
But Goss has a different goal in mind for his music. Having witnessed his girlfriend, the Danish singer (and office favorite) MØ, rise to fame, and the whirlwind of expectations and challenges that have come with it, he is hesitant to arrive in the spotlight.
“Karen’s success has discouraged me a bit from big success,” he admits. “It’s quite fierce. And the pressure is really heavy.”
Though that has made him anxious about the cost of commercial fame, it hasn’t discouraged him from searching for his own place in music. Sometimes, in collaboration with others, but mostly hiding alone in a shared basement studio in Copenhagen, Goss writes songs to deal with the emotional apocalypse that erupts sometimes when his girlfriend is away. It’s how he processes, and ultimately, understands his own feelings.
In recent years, however, Goss has been grappling with who he is—and who he wants to be, both in life, and as an artist. In contrast to most musicians in the current cultural landscape, he has remained resolutely anonymous, instead focusing on cultivating his musical aesthetic and not giving much away about himself or his personal life.
“The first two years of Goss, I just sat alone in a basement and twisted knobs,” he remembers. It was during this time that he wrote his first EP, Healthcare, which he ended up releasing last year. With five songs, the album was upbeat and saccharine, yet seemingly unsure of themselves, proof that Goss was still trying to figure out exactly how he wanted them to sound. Around the same time, he wrote a demo for what would eventually become MØ’s dreamy pop ballad, “Kamikaze,” and in doing so, realized how important collaboration was in his own work.
Fast forward a few years and Goss has finally established his own, unapologetic sound. Listening to Homeland Security, it’s clear that the artist has solidified his vision, and through the process, found his voice. The downtempo pop singles are catchy, yet unassuming. Snuggled between woozy synths and chopped up pianos, Goss creates his own experimental story, an intoxicating stream of consciousness, almost like his own inner dialogue coming to life before our eyes—or, ears.
Lyrically, the record sounds almost like a fleeting thought, too intimate to share out loud. It’s hedonistic, but sincere—it’s clear Goss is an artist who can’t help but wear his heart on his sleeve.
“I feel like it’s the true mirroring of who I am and how I’ve felt in certain periods and times,” he says about the album. “I wanted to write about all kinds of things, but love has tsunamied my life since I met Karen. I’ve even tried to write more political songs, but it doesn’t feel like it’s honest in the same way.”
For an artist who, up until this point, has remained protective over his private life and relationship, it’s a bold display of honesty about his relationship, with lyrics that aren’t prophetic or vague—they’re direct stories about how he actually feels.
“Love is extremely easy and super difficult,“ he says. “When Karen is on tour and gone for long periods, after three weeks I hit this extreme feeling of sadness. I use that energy in the songs.“
And that’s exactly what Goss does best—using his own emotion and boiling them down to their simplest, most authentic form.
“I am able to write love songs that are kind of sad, but without paying the price,” he explains, “because Karen always comes back. But [while she’s gone], it’s like my body and my heart don’t always understand it, but my brain knows she’s actually coming home.”
Unhindered by the kind of hyper-masculinity and ironic affection that often governs many artists, Goss is totally unfeigned in his approach to his art. But that doesn’t mean he’s gotten comfortable—he’s just as honest about his music as he is his feelings about love and loss.
“I’m still trying to find the core of what it really is,” he says about his vision. “But I feel like this EP is a big step towards figuring out what I want. I think I’d like to end up somewhere that’s experimental, but still pop songs, which is a bit of a dangerous place because a lot people want to rest there. But you have to find your own place,” adds Goss.
And even if he sees that place eventually changing, toward the end of our conversation, I ask Goss to describe the EP in three words. “Explorative, sensitive, good,” he pauses. “That might be me—at least on that EP—but also in life.”
As for the future? “Karen is dreaming of moving to New York,” he smiles. “So, it’s sort of up to me. It would be a good time—and a good challenge. [...] As a person, it’s important to throw yourself into new situations and do things you’re afraid of.”
‘Homeland Security’ is out now.’
Known for his high-energy onstage performances—which usually include bringing fans onstage, his signature dance move (think air guitaring, but smoother) and jumping into the crowd, MHD couldn’t be any more chill in person.
“Normally, I don’t like to talk a lot,” said the rapper about the difference between his onstage persona and who he is IRL. “I’m a bit shy, but MHD loves to dance and get crazy.”
With a staggering 2.3M Instagram followers (and growing), and having performed as many as 300 concerts in the last two years, MHD has created his own cult-like fanbase that is interesting in everything he does, eats and wears. But this level of fame was something the artist never could’ve imagined.
“I didn’t think I was going to blow up like this,” he admitted. “I didn’t even necessarily think I was going to do rap music.” The career he did predict for himself? “When I was younger, I thought I would own my own French restaurant.” Though we would’ve loved to try the delicious-sounding French spin on a hamburger he told us about, we’re glad he ended up choosing music. And so is MHD.
Last month, the rapper stopped by the office Newsstand to pose for some portraits and tell us about 19.
How was the writing process for 19? Did you have to put a lot of thought into it, or was it more like words spilling out onto the page?
It was much easier and I managed to write it very fast—it was very simple.
Why do you think that was?
Because it’s my life—my history. My album feels like me just having a discussion with someone, but in this case, the someone I’m having the discussion with are my fans—the public.
It’s a very personal album. Was writing it at all therapeutic, or was it all things that you were already aware of?
There are a lot of things I’ve never said before that I said on this album. There are things I can’t even really say in interviews because as a person, I’m a bit closed off and reserved. But on the album, I can say things through the voice of MHD, which really helps further my message.
In that context, do you enjoy interviews?
It’s not too bad. If people are interested in me, then I’m interested in other people, and I’m happy to talk about myself.
I’ve seen some really crazy footage from your performances. What’s the most insane thing that’s happened during one of your shows?
I had a show scheduled in Guinea and way too many people showed up—about 120,000. So, we had to cancel and reschedule.
What are you doing when you’re not making music or going on tour?
Right now, I’m making a second film.
Can you tell me a bit about it?
I’m the main character and it’s about some guy who’s at school, and over the course of the film, he has some problems and ends up in prison. From there, the story unfolds.
I feel like even pretend going to prison is pretty intense.
Yeah, it was, especially because usually I’m showing the happy side of my neighborhood, and you know, it’s a lot of dancing, its festive—it’s a happy life—but I’m exposing the other side of it through this film.
What’s next for you?
Right now, I’m preparing for a tour in America and Africa.
Will you be hitting NYC?
Yeah, it’ll be about 10 dates—NY, LA, Chicago, all of it.
‘19’ is out now.
office sat down with the artist while he was in town for a show, to talk about the LA punk scene, the current musical climate and which coast is best. (Spoiler alert: East. Duh.)
Can you tell me a bit about how you got into music?
I met all of my bandmates [Daniel Fox, Aaron Jassenoff and Jackson Katz] when I started out playing punk shows in Los Angeles. Especially venues like The Smell and Downtown. We just all kind of played in each other’s bands and it was just a big family thing, which is cool—that doesn’t happen a lot.
Did you all have a similar vision going into this process? I feel like, exactly what you just said—you don’t often meet people that you can just click and create with.
Yeah, I think we’ve all shared a really similar vision going forward with music, in general—we all take it really seriously. The music scene that we were brought up in was full of people, so it was difficult finding that core group of people who you can trust—I mean, not to say there aren’t good people in the scene or anything like that, but we got really lucky.
You’ve done a lot yourself as well, especially in the realm of collaboration, which isn’t always the easiest thing to accomplish.
Thank you. But I wasn’t always open to collaboration. Some of the earlier stuff I’ve done was because I liked the music, but a lot of the time, I’d just do it myself. But as time goes on and you make more things, you realize that you need help from other people and that most artists are just better than you. My viewpoint has shifted a lot and now, I think it’s completely necessary for growth, because your career probably won’t last very long otherwise.
Right: Faith Connexion shirt; Left: Faith Connexion shirt, Austin's own pants & shirt.
I really love your “Lessons for Later” video by Kevin Abstract. The vibe is kind of peculiar—really dark, but also kind of dreamy. Do you think that’s sort of representative of your aesthetic?
Hopefully. Since it was our first official music video that we made, I wanted the visual to be a marker for everything we’ve done up to that point, which was relatively mellow, but had an interesting undertone to it. That’s why I don’t move the entire video and I’m just standing there. It felt necessary—otherwise, it would have been too much acting. We just wanted to make something that wasn’t too overstated or full of itself, while at the same time, just making something that was sort of pretty and had some thought to it.
Opting to take a subtler approach to music, how do you feel about the current musical climate?
It’s definitely oversaturated, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just the output and opportunities and the value of everything is pretty insane right now. It’s not anything new, but it’s kind of refreshing to be able to find something entirely new anywhere you look. It keeps you on your toes and encourages you to make forward-thinking music because if you’re not paying attention you could miss a beat.
But do you ever feel like there’s too much to discover?
I think there can be. I never really felt like that personally, just because I keep my scope pretty narrow, otherwise things can get blurry, and it’s easy to get lost in other people’s output and start making stuff based on visions of people around you.
Right: Faith Connexion shirt, Austin's own pants & t-shirt; Left: Faith Connexion shirt, Moscot glasses, Austin's own pants & t-shirt.
Why did you choose the guitar as your main instrument?
It’s always the default instrument for young people. It’s heavily marketed to make people look cool. You can get starter packs for guitars really cheap and you can get whatever model your favorite rockstar has for really cheap, too. Not that that was the reason I started, but it felt like the most realistic and something you could write songs on, whereas other instruments have a standard of where they belong, which never really interested me—I always wanted to have options. But also, the guitar just looked really cool, which is something I was definitely thinking about when I was seven.
You’ve worked with some of the great musical innovators of our generation, like Tyler and Frank. In my mind, they’re such ever-evolving artists and it’s interesting you also mentioned the endless features that the guitar has provided you when it comes to your craft.
I think as soon as you think you’ve learned everything, that’s when you stop. I guess if we’re talking about Frank or Tyler, they’re great examples of the balance between knowing they’re opinion matters, but also not pretending they know everything. They’re taste is always evolving. At least, I know Tyler, for example, is always pushing forward—even if it feels too ahead of right now, it will come back around and prove that he’s right. We’re already seeing that with Cherry Bomb. I think people are currently rediscovering that album because it was so ahead of its time.
Maybe that ties back into the saturation of the music industry.
It’s based on where the mass celebrity goes, basically. And if the mass celebrity is being fucking insane, which clearly is happening right now with artists like Kanye, for example, then that’s what people will listen to. It takes a lot of people to listen for a real, forward-thinking artist to be actually appreciated. So, it’s nice that people who really want to push boundaries are being recognized.
Above: Linder jacket, Austin's own pants.
You just got back to LA after touring throughout the U.S. Which do you prefer: East Coast or West?
I just don’t really get much inspiration out of Los Angeles, but I don’t necessarily want to leave. I think what LA has to offer is just more space and the ability to breathe. But the East Coast has more energy—the buildings, visuals, opportunities and the representation of people is just different in a way that makes me just feel energetic when I’m there. I think things fly under a radar—not in a way that they go unnoticed—but there’s more normalization of interesting things. Still, LA is interesting in its own way.
How so?
In LA, you can find places where things go on, but it’s not too community-based, which I kind of like, because I like doing it on my own. I’m drawn to a more domesticated lifestyle. In New York, you always have to be on your toes. So, in that sense, I like the stability that Los Angeles has to offer.
What are you working on next?
We have an album that’s being finished right now—I don’t think that’s much of a secret. There’s no release date yet, just because it’s still being finished, but I think we’re trying to go back to why we started writing music and capture that feeling again, which resulted in not simpler songs, but songs that were really sticky, and really had a purpose, and didn’t overstay their welcome—maybe that made the songs a little poppier or faster. We’re always just trying to not bore ourselves.
Listen to Slow Hollows' most recent single, "Selling Flowers," and watch "Lessons for Later" here.
