The Lisbon via New York artist M. Vaughan grew up playing in Indie Rock bands before spending a decade crafting Electronic music. Regarding his latest EP, Keep In Touch, the artist had this to say: “This record is about these past few years of transition, trying to reckon with my own musical roots while making sense of life abroad, and eventually landing in a new place and making it home…The songs on this record are a fusion of my experience as a dance music producer and rock songwriter. Compared to True Life, my last LP as M. Vaughan, they’re more songs than tracks. Even if they have more of a pop structure, I couldn’t help but bust out the synthesizers and fuck up some samples—I use the tools of electronic music to make rock songs.“ Interested in learning more, I dropped him a line…

Just out of curiosity, why do you use your first initial rather than your first name, and are we allowed to know what the “M” stands for?

I wanted to be amongst the greats—D.H. Lawrence, J. Alfred Prufrock, D.L. Hughley.  M is indeed for Michael.

I was reading the background material you wrote for Keep in Touch, and you mention that you moved to Germany during the pandemic. What was the thinking there? 
Honestly, I wanted to work for Ableton or a synthesizer company and Berlin is the best place in the world for that. I’m also very into electronic music and it’s super central to the culture there, the government even funds it as a “cultural heritage.” Felt like a good idea!

You also mention that the move renewed your interest in indie rock after years of producing dance music. What was it about being Germany that that sparked this change?

I’ve always been into indie rock, but I think because I felt homesick in Germany, listening to bands from back home gave me a sense of comfort. 

Maybe you always long for some musical world you’re not a part of. Growing up in Virginia, house and techno felt alien, so I was drawn to it. Suddenly, in the land of techno, rock felt foreign, so I was pulled back to it. 

How does your background in producing dance music inform your approach to indie rock?

I’m a studio rat and I love synthesizers and lush soundscapes. I enjoy making music from accidents and experiments and distortions just as much as writing a pristine melody on a guitar or keyboard. Dance music is much more about the gear and the tools and the process, so I think I brought that “mad scientist” mentality to writing more traditional songs. 

I remember reading that Phil Elverum from the Microphones has a kind of similar approach, where he began as a recording engineer for other bands, and he just enjoyed creating weird studio experiments, re-mic-ing a performance in a bunch of different ways and mashing them together. I love stuff like that. 

You find joy in resampling and like to, in your words, “fuck up the sample beyond recognition.” What do you to to fuck it up? What kinds of effects and processors do you gravitate toward? And how do you know when you’ve hit the Goldilocks balance of fucking it up just right?

I’m pretty in the box these days with my fuck-uppery. Ableton plugins and Soundtoys plugins are good. I really enjoy taking a sample and timestretching it, distorting it, and letting the artifacts within the timestretching create new characters. I also think it’s really important to work quickly. You’re trying to put lightning in a bottle and you can’t overthink things. As far as knowing when it’s done—you kinda just know. It’s like adding seasoning to a dish, you keep going until it pops. 

Describing the difference between Keep in Touch and your previous outings, you draw a distinction between songs and tracks. What do you see as the difference?

To me songs just means not club oriented music for DJs.

One time I poured my heart into making this track and it was this big melancholic emotional club banger. I showed my friend and she was like “Hell yeah, I could get fucked up to this!” And I was just like wow, that’s maybe the worst thing anyone could’ve said. 

I feel like sometimes my music is a bit more emotionally , and I wanted to make stuff which was more meant to be listened to rather than blacked out to. Call me crazy! Also, on a simpler level, I honestly don’t get to choose what comes out, sometimes it’s just what the musical gods are serving up that day. 

After living in Germany for a little while, you moved to Portugal, where you currently reside. What kind of perspective did that move give you? Similarly, how has living abroad influenced your outlook?

Honestlly, I love Portugal. It’s great. Weather is good. I dig the language. International vibe. But—being happy is maybe one of the worst things you can do for your creative output. 

I remember when I was younger I used to love Bright Eyes. He did his best stuff when he was super strung out on heroin. Then, he got sober and fixed his life and wrote this album about how good everything was. I was happy for the dude, but the record was shit. Sometimes I feel like that, where I sit down to write a song and I make a major chord and instantly I’m thinking “Alright people! How’s everybody doing tonight? Feel the breeze on your back and the wine in your hand, everything is gonna be alright!” 

In New York I used to have to wade through piss to commute to work and it was the best creative period of my life. Lisbon is like slowly turning me into Jimmy Buffet, but hey, I’m happy 🙂 

You mention that one of the things you miss from home is barbecue sauce. Any particular brand?

Honestly, I was just telling a friend my idea to start a barbeque sauce/mexican salsa company. There’s no sauce in this country!

Anything smoky with honey is it. Memphis style, ketchup-based. Stubbs is legit.   

You describe yourself as a “musical hermit.” Do you have any plans to play Keep in Touch live?

I just played a set at Beginnings festival here in Portugal! Was fun and scary!What’s on the horizon for you?

Collaborating with a few friends in Lisbon, working on some danceir music, want to release another EP this year. 

Starting a party in Lisbon called Alias, that aims to fuse live acts and DJ sets. First party is in early August.  Will play a few live shows around Portugal/Europe. Book me!