Moonlight

“My house was always booming when I was a kid,” TSHA tells Apple Music. “My brother was DJ-ing jungle and house music, so we used to dance around the living room, and my mum went out a lot, so she would tell me what a rave was like. I couldn’t wait to turn 18 and go out and party!” The London producer’s affection for the dance floor is clear on every beat of the *Moonlight* EP, her first release on Counter Records. But that doesn’t mean it’s all made for one mood—“Moon” is pretty and intricate, “Me You” upfront and club-ready, while “Back to You” featuring Reader shows that TSHA’s beats work perfectly with vocals and “Vibe” suits the title. TSHA, who’s already had support from George FitzGerald and her own favorite producer Bonobo, says, “We just wanted to get something out to show people the things I can do. That’s why it’s so varied. I also wanted to give people something while I work on my debut album.” Here, she takes us through the eclectic project, song by song. **Moon** “I don’t really think too hard about the names of tracks, but most of them on this EP have a melancholy sound and, to me, it feels like you could chill and listen to them in the moonlight. I’d had the bass and the drop for quite a long time because they were made for another track that I didn’t like in the end. So I was trying to find a place for them, and then, for the first time, I got a drummer in to record with me. That live percussion really elevated ‘Moon,’ when I’d usually have loops or samples on there.” **Me You** “‘Me You’ is my favorite track on the EP. I just love the breakdown, and when I was making it, I thought it’d translate well on the dance floor at 3am, with that euphoric feeling. It’s got a trance sound that invokes certain emotions when you’re out, and I’m really enjoying playing it out in my DJ sets because of the crowd reaction.” **Back to You (feat. Reader)** “Reader is a friend of mine, and when we went into the studio she’d recently had a breakup, so she’s definitely talking about one person in the lyrics. She’s more of an R&B artist, and then her flow on this almost sounds like Migos, which I thought was really interesting. I was so happy to do a collab; she’s lovely and we worked so well together. I’m keen to do more vocal tracks every now and then, but I also like having more room for melodies, vocal chops, and samples in the instrumental tracks.” **Vibe** “The choice of instruments in this track is a bit different—I used a Rhodes \[piano\], which can sound quite R&B, and I got a jazz pianist to come in and freestyle and then I chopped bits out. People have compared the drums to Floating Points, and I just wanted this shuffle-y, relaxed kind of sound. When I was in the studio I played it to people and they said, ‘This is like a vibe,’ it feels like a mood, so the title came from that.”