#46 Deeper Into Outer Space | Octo Octa

The brilliant US DJ and producer marks a decade of coming out as transgender with an album of hope and hardware-based-rave euphoria...

“I’ve been out now for ten years and for a long time, this point was a significant marker for me, for living life and still existing,” says American DJ and producer Maya Bouldry-Morrison, known as Octo Octa.

“I never knew if I was going to make it this long due to rough life stuff so I wanted to celebrate it - and releasing this record is the best way to do it.”

Maya is speaking from a friend’s place in Berlin as she tours around Europe. Fresh from an Essential Mix and now with her ‘Sigils for Survival’ album out in the wider world, our chat is energised and emotive, this new record a celebration of trans identity spread across eight tracks of analogue dancefloor magic. Having come out as transgender back in November 2015, it’s Maya’s fourth album (after 2019’s ‘Resonant Body’) and follows plenty of activity, from solo touring, DJing with lover Eris Drew or hosting their T4T LUV NRG raves and parties. For each of the record’s eight songs, Maya drew a sigil to “bind magic to the song and seal its intention”.

“Maybe two years ago, my body and brain were like, I think it’s time we do another album,” Maya says.

“So I went home, took two months off, recorded it in a month and mixed it down in another. Every time, I come up with an idea of it being about something and capture it as a whole as quickly as I can. It’s what I love about albums - presenting an entire idea in one.”

‘Sigils for Survival’

The record, as with much of Maya’s music, was recorded at the home she shares with Eris in New Hampshire. Both have their own studio spaces at opposite ends of the cabin where they live.

“I find so much of what I do is to be an autobiographical artist, so it’s a lot of taking what’s going on when I’m on tour, how I’m feeling out in the world, then taking nature too, then going back to my own space to make music,” says Maya.

“For this record, in particular, working with hardware, it feels a lot more locked into the space I’m at with nature. It’s all electronic so calling it organic is a weird connective tissue but it was a lot of letting the equipment be what it is. Nothing was fixed or locked to grids, instead it was all about keeping as much MIDI drift as possible.”

Maya lists out some of her favourite bits of kit - but nothing is of high-end or sacrosanct. Although there’s a current vogue for gear that comes packed with features, her brain works in a different way. Instead, she’s into more idiosyncratic individual pieces of gear that can offer glimpses of character and personality.

“One of my favourite synths of all time is the Korg Volca Keys, which is such a maligned piece of kit, it’s super cheap and gets criticised for sounding like a toy,” Maya says. “But I use it on almost everything, I think it sounds incredible and it’s all about the motion sequencing. The Korg DW 8000 keyboard is another favourite I picked up from a pawn shop, I love how it sounds and the very last song on the album is all about that.”

Whereas modular synths are a favourite with myriad producers and creatives, Maya is very much focused on avoiding getting lost down any rabbit holes of endless possibilities.

“I like using things, like the Volca, they are right there, there’s only so much you can do with it,” she states. “I use 303s constantly too as they are simple to work and get into.”

“I was really happy with the album to adopt a different approach by avoiding overlaying or making things as dense as I have done before. The fun of being an artist is being able to change things up and I’m always shifting things slightly as part of my process.”

There’s an energy running through ‘Sigils for Survival’s music that embodies a sense of experimentation playful joy. Her productions like ‘Just Listen’ or album opener, ‘First Intention (Right Here, Right Now)’, sound free and full of ecstasy.

“When I listen back, I hear the interplay of me playing one thing, then multitracking over it, then multitracking something else over it,” Maya says. “Because none of it is on a grid or edited together and arranged, it’s really freeing. It’s all very unconscious and an exploration into feeling.”

“Bands do this all the time - one person plays a rhythm and everyone else reacts to this. It’s not all to a click track,” she continues. “But when we talk about dance music, I feel that it’s always a lot about operating within a tight scope.”

“With this record, I made these choices in the moment to play things in a certain, experimental way. Having it come together into this whole, it’s really fascinating to hear what I decided to.”

Milestones

At this stage in her musical life, Maya’s energy is one of surprise. Music has always been a love and passion but her production process has been learned through doing, collaborating and connecting with others. Making music was never something she thought she would be able to turn into a full-time past-time. The fight to keep moving forward despite the challenges life has thrown at her are alluded to in the titles of album tracks like ‘Keep Pressing On’ and ‘Survival Groove’.

“It’s weird hitting this point where I’m putting out a fourth album, it’s such a surprising landmark,” she says. “I’m here in Berlin staying at my friend’s house. As time moves on, I never thought I would be here - which is why the album is about 10 years of being out. I did not think I was going to get to to this point.”

Previously, Maya was part of an indie dance outfit known as Horny Vampyre. Although there were threads of electronic music wrapped up in the duo, there has always been a separation between the clubs where Octo Octa has made her name and her production. She doesn’t play any of her music out when she’s in the booth.

“It was when I moved to New York where I became a DJ,” she says. “In my old band, my friend Jeremy taught me a lot about writing melodies, then it would be us with microphones, playing these rowdy house parties. But it was moving to New York that allowed me dedicate more time to learning how to put sets together.”

The first Octo Octa music was released back in 2011 back when Maya first moved to the city. It was here where she learned to DJ - but an eclectic approach has always been part of her.

“Now, I get inspired by different sounds but I never sit down and think it’s time to write a track in a certain sound or genre,” she states. “When I go out and DJ, I play house, techno, breaks and trance, I love it all being together and this album is similar - I like every facet of dance music so there are a bunch of different styles on it.”

Communities

Maya cut her teeth in DIY spaces and it’s these spots where she feels most assured as a DJ. From the renegade parties of the Envelope Collective in the Bay Area to West Harlem in Kyoto and Raum in Amsterdam, she is a fan of raw yet inclusive parties.

“It’s really inspiring when you go somewhere and you can sense how they want everyone there to be involved,” Maya says.

“When a space feels independent and that what they’re doing really matters, you can feel the community energy running through it. As clubs rise and fall and come and go, these are the ones that feel most sustainable.”

Freedom is another pillar of Maya’s self and music - and something she urges younger artists looking to make music to embrace. It’s only when the weight of expectation have been shrugged off that you can produce music without inhibitions.

“If you’re a new artist just starting out, the first thing to remember is how fun it can be,” she says. “Don’t go into it creating a pressure that you need to release something or have something to play out. Because, it should just be a fun, pressure-free thing to do.”

“For the first year of music making, just finish tracks, move onto the next one and throw out other stuff. Try not to be precious about anything - if it works out, then great. As long as you’re into the process, it’s never going to be an end point for it, that’s what is so great about doing art, there is a forever creative process that you can keep tapping into.”

As a music-maker and DJ, Maya is also a firm believer that anyone looking to be a producer should avoid guides, being pigeon-holed and tap into their own energy. It’s advice she’s adhered to, from her own genre-smashing Essential Mix to the alcohol free System Activate outdoor raves out that she and Eris run.

“What I find so powerful and liberating about DJing is the freedom and I urge anyone to try to avoid conventions. The rigidity is only getting people stuck and you want to break out of that mould - it’s the only way you can find and develop yourself and your own voice.”

‘Sigils for Survival’ is out now.

Connect with Octo Octa | Bandcamp | Instagram | Listen to her Essential Mix below: