Moody Joody Encapsulate the Highs and Lows of Being Human With Their Debut EP, Dream Girl
Since debuting in 2020, Nashville-based shimmer-pop trio Moody Joody have won over audiences with their vibrant, synthy sound, and they truly shine on their debut EP, the newly released Dream Girl.
With Kayla Hall and Kaitie Forbes both tackling lead vocals and guitar and Andrew Pacheco serving as producer, the band had laid out all of their strengths on this six-track EP (which you can listen to HERE). Whether the songs are vibrantly upbeat or moody, dark and dreamy, their unique brand of synth-pop is equally irresistible as they capture the human experience—in particular, Kayla and Kaitie's experiences as women in the modern age, through all of their ups and downs. It's a collection of their most hopeful dreams, deepest fears and everything in between, and we had the pleasure of chatting with the band to dive even deeper into the EP's story in the interview below.
Sweety High: What does the EP name to love in the Dream Girl mean to you? Why did that title track feel like the perfect summation of this group of songs?
Kaitie Hall: "Dream Girl" felt like a great summation of the EP because it is all about owning our humanness, our flaws and the duality of womanhood and stepping down from the "dream girl" pedestal we've been placed on. Whether that's from past love interests, society, religion, the patriarchy, etc.
Kayla Hall: Dream Girl as a whole was born from a place of capturing the duality of life and our experiences and raw emotions as women in the world translated into an edgy, dreamy indie pop EP. We wanted to capture everything that we are and feel, which at times is sexy, ethereal, lighthearted, powerful and at other times is dark, deep, depressed and raw; creating a safe space for ourselves to experience and embrace the highs and lows of womanhood through this project. Touching on elements of romance, mental health, chasing the dream, unrequited love, longing, self-acceptance, depression and being in your power, we bring you through a little bit of everything on this journey of our six-song EP.
SH: What do you feel are the overarching themes of the EP? What kind of feel do you hope fans take away from it?
Kaitie: Romance, mental health, burnout, sensuality, femininity. I hope people take away that you can be many, many things all at once and that's okay!
Kayla: The duality of life and embracing all that encompasses being a human and being a woman. We touch on elements of romance, mental health, chasing the dream, unrequited love, longing, self-acceptance, depression and being in your power.
(Dream Girl via Photo Finish Records)
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SH: How would you describe the EP's sound? Production-wise, how did you go about bringing these tracks to life?
Andrew Pacheco: There's an ethereal, '80- inspired, new-wave element to our sound that's been there ever since we started, and I think it definitely shines through on this EP. But we've been releasing singles for four years now, and in that time we've explored other avenues sonically, so it was important for us to represent all of those sides on our first body of work. We have so many different influences, so in between the synthy moments are some more indie leaning tracks, and there's even some subtle nods to emo and country buried in there too.
Most of the time, our writing process starts with a title or lyrics that Kayla and/or Kaitie already started. They bring the idea in, and then I kind of translate my emotional interpretation of the words and meaning into the chords and music. In my mind, the production is like building the set of a movie—where is this story or dialogue taking place? That was the process for at least "Dream Girl," "El Camino High" and "Pass The Time" on this EP, but a handful of the songs were written in the studio with Scott Harris, so that experience was a little different. Like on "Cuts Deep" for example, there was a lot more messing around in the studio with sounds and grooves before fully diving into lyrics. One thing that's really great about working with Scott is that he's really good at getting us to shake things up while still maintaining the integrity of our sound and who we are as a band. He pushed us to some different places in terms of vocal production and things we hadn't tried before.
SH: How do you feel that these songs represent where you all are in life right now?
Kaitie: I'm in a phase of life of owning who I am, shamelessly and proudly. I'm excited to put these honest songs out into the world as a symbol of that.
Kayla: Having songs that we wrote years ago as well as songs we wrote this year for the EP has really allowed us to stay present in the journey of creating this EP. It's beautiful to be able to write songs that capture a moment in time whether it be healing or a love story or something kind of frivolous along the way and being able to look back on it and reflect. Right now, I'm just really proud to celebrate the things that I've gone through over the years of creating this EP and have a place where they could bring healing or fun or connection or understanding to the people that are listening.
(Photo credit: Luke Rogers)
SH: What are each of your favorite songs on the EP? Why?
Andrew: I love them all for different reasons, but at this moment in time I'd have to say "El Camino High" or "Ground Control." "El Camino" was the last song we wrote for the EP, so I think it still feels really fresh for us and where we're at right now. "Ground Control" is a really special song for us and I'm so proud of that one sonically too. "Dream Girl" is a favorite right now too because it's been a lot of fun to play live on this last tour.
Kayla: This is so tough of a question to answer because I love every single song on there, but I'd have to say either "El Camino High" or "Dream Girl." "El Camino High" feels like the next level Moody Joody. Since it was the last song we wrote for the EP, it felt like a chapter ending and also starting a new chapter where I feel ready to look forward to creating an album really feeling like we know who we are as a band. "Dream Girl" is so personal and just a treatment to sometimes feeling like you have to hide who you really are or not take up too much space or keep the peace and I feel like that's a universal feeling for a lot of women. This song just kind of taps into that desperation of being like, "is it okay to be a human?" and "what happens when you find out that I am flawed?" And then taking that power back of loving yourself and owning your humanness.
Kaitie: "El Camino High." It's helped bring my choreography dreams to life.
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SH: Was there anything that surprised you about the process of recording and putting together your debut EP?
Andrew: The process was interesting because there's some songs we wrote almost three years ago on it, and some we wrote just a few months ago. It was fun to sequence it and hear it all come together. "Pass The Time" is the oldest song on the project, but it's the last one we finished recording. Maybe "surprised" isn't the right word, but it's cool to see how the older songs and the newer songs came together both sonically and lyrically to complete the narrative of the project.
SH: How are you feeling about releasing it to the world?
Kaitie: Nothing but excitement:) can't wait for this next chapter of Moody Joody!
Kayla: Excited! Nervous!
(Photo credit: Luke Rogers)
For more on our favorite new music out today, click HERE to read our interview with Levent Geiger on his new song, "Love Me."