British-Mexican Alt-Pop Artist Moy Cohen Releases His Debut EP and Shares His Musical Journey
On August 9, Moy Cohen released his debut EP “Overgrown,” which contains a series of songs that encapsulates Moy’s personal experiences growing up in a broken home and moving between two countries. Moy is a self-taught musician who used music as self-therapy while struggling to feel at home through his adolescence.
The EP includes his singles “Child Photographs,” “Pick Up the Pieces,” “Ocean,” “Against the Wind,” and “Stick Around.”
I had the pleasure of interviewing Moy, and getting to know more about what “Overgrown” means to him.
Amy: I saw that your music has some British influences, how have your cultural backgrounds and influences shaped your sound?
Moy: “I would say my music is more influenced by the British side of things rather than the Mexican side of things. I always listened to British artists such as Coldplay growing up, James Blake, and Ed Sheeran. They have definitely had a big influence on my sound. Growing up between two countries has influenced my music topically. I talk a lot about the issues I faced with that in the EP, and that’s kind of the main subject matter to it. I do write some stuff with more Latin influence, and I hope to release that soon.”
Amy: Can you tell us more about the dual meaning of “overgrown” and how it reflects both feeling like you were “overgrown” for your age but also the project itself being “overgrown”?
Moy: “It is definitely a double entendre. On one hand, I feel overgrown. I think I had to grow up quite quickly, just because of difficulties I went through in my adolescence with my parents divorce. I felt really overgrown in myself. On the other hand, I’ve lived with these songs for seven to eight years, and they themselves are overgrown. They were not allowed to spread their roots until I released them, and they get to do that now which is great.”
Amy: Can you tell us more about how music has served as an outlet for you throughout your life?
Moy: “I started writing songs when I was around 13 as a form of self-therapy. It was a way of making sense of things happening in my life, and feelings that I had. I do think it really helped me through difficult times being able to have that creative release. It made it a lot easier to deal with difficult things happening in my life. When you're growing up as a teenager, you have a lot of emotions bouncing around, and everything is so raw. It was a great way to release that energy in a healthy way, which I think is really important.”
Amy: How do you approach writing about such personal and complex themes, and what do you hope listeners take away from these songs?
Moy: “When I write, I always write about personal experience. I don’t always set out to write about a certain thing, but sometimes it’ll naturally flow out of me. I’m not always 100% sure about how I am feeling until I have started writing a song. Subconsciously, I write about something that has been bothering me in the background, and I wouldn't have realized it otherwise. Sometimes I start with the lyrics, sometimes the melody, or even just some chords over and over again. I try to keep it as close to my personal experiences as possible. I found that when I first started writing songs, I was writing about stuff that didn't matter to me. They weren't that good. Once I started channeling my personal experience into my songs, my songwriting went to another level.”
Amy: Are there any stories or experiences from the production or songwriting process that were particularly impactful or memorable?
Moy: “The songwriting experience for “Childhood Photographs” took me the least amount of time to write out of the whole project. It just flowed out of me. I wrote it in late 2015/2016 when I moved in with my grandparents and my granddad gave me a guitar as a present. I had never played the guitar before, so I just sat down and started plucking the strings and moving my hands around until it sounded right. I started writing down whatever melody or lyrics came to mind. It was the first song I had ever written on guitar. I haven't changed the guitar part, it’s still as simple as when I wrote it. I think that is because it is such an important song in my catalog. It is me at my essence, it's the most raw example of my music. I think the way I wrote it reflects that as well.
Amy: With "Overgrown" now out, what’s next for you? Are there new themes or ideas you’re excited to explore in future projects?
Moy: “The whole time I've been working on the release of “Overgrown”, I’ve been writing a lot in the background. I have lots of albums worth of music. Some of it I might not release, but most of it I will. I listen to lots of different types of genres, so as a result, I write in a lot of those different genres as well. I think this can all change because I might wake up tomorrow and decide to go a different direction. I see my music going towards a more folky, acoustic direction, but I also have some more upbeat pop music in the works. I will kind of just see where the creative journey takes me.”
Amy: Looking back at your journey from writing songs at 13 to now, what are some key lessons you’ve learned along the way?
Moy: “To trust the process, and understanding that I am not a robot. I don't need to be churning out all of these songs and getting stressed when I hit a dry spell in writing. Since I do write about such personal experiences, I can't always be churning out a bunch of songs. Sometimes I have a couple of months where I can’t write anything lyrically. Musically I can write melodies and choruses, but the lyrics come to me later. I used to get quite frustrated, but now I see it as part of the process. I've got to live my life and take in experiences in order to gather enough material to turn into a song. I approach songwriting now with a lot more patiences and a lot more security in who I am as an artist. When I first started recording this EP at 17 years old, I hadn't been in a studio before, and I wasn't 100% sure who I wanted to be as an artist. Now, I know who I want to be and I can stick to that.”
Amy: Did you have any specific goals in mind when you started making music? How have your goals changed since then?
Moy: “When I started writing songs at 13, I was listening to all these artists. These people were winning all sorts of awards, and I was seeing them on the T.V. playing these massive concerts, and while I was inspired to get to that point, I think I am just taking the little steps to get there. Now I just want to be able to live off of something I love doing, and to make a life out of what was initially a hobby to me and what I feel gives me the most purpose.”
Amy: What advice would you give to young, aspiring musicians who are self-taught and trying to find their own voice in the music industry?
Moy: “Something that I learned from songwriting is that it can be a bit counterproductive to chase affection. I got caught up in that for a few years, and that's part of the reason as to why it took so long for this project to come out. There’s a quote my girlfriend told me from one of her favorite books and it says “now that you've stopped trying to be perfect, you can be good,” which I think is a really good lesson. Sometimes trying to achieve perfection gets in the way in all creative forms. You know when you are close to done when the changes become smaller and smaller.”