The Portuguese Pineapple

For a long time I was operating under the wrong assumption that DJ/producer Moullinex was French. Possibly because he shares a name with the French appliance maker Moullinex; possibly because his slick prog disco/funk has similar echoes in modern French electro acts. But Luis Clara-Gomez – the writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist known as Moullinex – is from Portugal.

That said, one of Moullinex's slickest remixes (aside from his genius cover of '80s Italo disco act Pineapples' Come On Closer) is of Frenchman Sebastien Tellier's Kilometer. It was also the French that kick started Moullinex's interest in music production, as he shares in a recent interview: “Growing up, I actually didn't like any dance music at all. I'm 28, so I missed the '80s disco era. I listened to rock, metal, and some jazz, and I was in a ska-punk band. To me, dance music seemed a lot less appealing because it lacked that visual nature rock shows have. But I've got to say – the first time Air toured Europe they came to Portugal for a show, and seeing them live changed my life. So I got into Air and Daft Punk in the '90s, and through the kind of stuff they were sampling I then got into '70s disco.”

Clara-Gomez ingrained himself into the larger European dance music scene further still when he relocated to Munich five years ago (although he's now based in Portugal again), as he explains: “Moving to Munich made me realise that if you want to excel in any area, it really helps to have a good infrastructure around you, like people doing the same or similar things to you. That way you can get access to cheaper equipment, tips on venues, etc. Munich is great for that – it's such a central location for music in Europe, electronic music especially.” During this time (around 2009) Clara-Gomez became a permanent part of leftfield electronica/nu-disco label, Gomma Records (Headman, Who Made Who, Munk).

This month, Moullinex's 'relationship' with Gomma celebrates a milestone with the release of his full-length debut, Flora, after several EPs and remixes from the Portuguese producer over the past few years. Completed in the musician's home studio and mastered in Brooklyn, Flora witnesses Moullinex reinject the warmth of bygone soul and disco music into cold, modern electronica with a deft production touch. There's a Flashdance cover with electro legend Peaches, guest vocals from Iwona Skwarek (from Polish band Rebeka) and Da Chick, a Lisbon boys' choir, as well as Clara-Gomez singing himself for the first time; all culminating to create a melodic – even heartfelt – offering.

Albeit an offering that took Clara-Gomez “ages” to finish, as he shares: “I have a difficult time knowing when to stop – my friends really had to convince me that this was the final product! I started out with about 30 tracks and ended up with about half that. I'm a bit of a perfectionist.” Flora's biggest technical hurdle, according to the shy Clara-Gomez, was “convincing [himself] to sing without effects!” Emotions-wise, “Darkest Night was a challenging track,” says the producer, “It took me to a very specific place in time, every time I touched the track. Iwona did the vocals on it and she nearly wasn't able to do it, but then at the last second it happened and it all came together. I'm really attached to that track, just because of the way the recording process panned out – it was clearly meant to be in the end.”

Perth fans will get the chance to catch Moullinex in the flesh next Friday, and the producer couldn't be more stoked about visiting the home turf of one of his favourite bands: “I've been listening to Tame Impala's new album on repeat for the past few weeks – it's just amazing!” Looks like Clara-Gomez' teenage taste for rock hasn't been entirely sidelined by dance, after all.

Moullinex will be playing the following shows:

Friday 9 November - Ambar, Perth WA
Saturday 10 November - New Guernia, Melbourne VIC
Sunday 11 November - Ivy Pool, Sydney NSW