A year on from her latest single, Mo’Ju has returned with her latest track, sharing the deeply personal “Wave” ahead of its official release this week.
Having been on the scene for over 15 years now, it’s become a widely-known fact that Mo’Ju is capable of unleashing some of the most important and hard-hitting tracks. Eclectic instrumentation sits alongside powerful lyrics that speak to the heart of the matter, devastating all those who listen with how resonant these compositions are.
Now, as part of the Victorian Flash Forward program, Mo’Ju has unveiled her latest track, with “Wave” being inspired by the artist’s long history with depression, anxiety, and issues relating to mental health.
“Obviously I’ve channeled this into my work in lots of different ways, but I’ve never act addressed it so directly in my music,” Mo’Ju explains. “I don’t think I’ve ever just come out and said ‘Hey I’m struggling here’. I felt like maybe it was time to do that.”
The first taste of a forthcoming mini-album, “Wave” sees Mo’Ju discussing the oscillation between extreme lows and highs experienced during difficult times, illustrating how one can easily dip “in and out of the wave”.
“I know people are gonna read it as a love song or a break up song, but it’s just not as simple as that,” Mo’Ju explains. “It’s about trying to break habits that are toxic, even though they might feel good temporarily – or there might be parts of it that are genuinely amazing but there’s also something there that is ultimately not good for you. So yeah that can be a person, but it can also be drugs, alcohol… I mean it can be anything that isn’t right for you.
“It’s also a song about loneliness,” she continues. “And feeling like you have no one even when on some level you know thats not true. But you just can’t reach out. That’s what happens when you’re depressed, experiencing suicidal ideation… for me anyway. You oscillate between trying to fill that emptiness and then indulging the emptiness. ‘Dipping in and out of the wave’, essentially.”
Featuring production from long time collaborators and bandmates Henry Jenkins (The Cactus Channel, Karate Boogaloo) and Lewis Coleman (Lewis Coleman, The Cactus Channel), both “Wave” and the forthcoming mini-album serve as a vulnerable and introspective reflection upon mental health and loneliness. Ultimately though, it was an opportunity to discuss such a heady topic in a way without diluting the importance of the message.
“I didn’t wanna romanticise any of this, but it was important to me show how it feels, not just tell it, so there are times on the record where it might feel overly dramatic and other times where it feels dissociated or bleak,” Mo’Ju concludes. “I mean that’s the ride I was on at the time. But I think it’s relatable.
“And I think it’s been healing to, I guess, write it out of my body in way. I think it’s extremely common and we’re getting better at talking about it as a society. I just wanted to be better at talking about it as an individual.”
“Wave” serves as Mo’Ju’s first piece of original since last year’s “Put It On Hold”, which in turn followed on from 2019’s collaborative effort with Joelistics, Ghost Town.
Mo’Ju’s “Wave” is officially released on Friday, September 17th.
