Who was an important musical influence on you growing up?

TOXE: The main reason I started making music was because of my older brother. He put me on to a lot of music and downloaded Ableton on my computer. He really believed in me, which I am very grateful for.

What kind of stuff did your brother introduce you to?

Everything from Korn to The Tough Alliance. I was already listening to a lot of Gothenburg artists like Håkan Hellström and Broder Daniel, but my brother really put me on to electronic music. When I was thirteen I got really into Ed Banger Records and that era of French electronic music, and my brother also introduced me to The Tough Alliance, The Embassy, all the stuff on the Sincerely Yours label. And of course The Knife. I actually went to the same highschool as Karin and Olof Dreijer (from The Knife) in Gothenburg. But yeah, there’s something specific to that Swedish poppy electronic sound that is still in what I do.

Any particular artist, album or song that had a big impact on you?

The Tough Alliance’s debut The New School, I love that whole album. I recently re-discovered their discography, specifically the song “A New Chance.” There’s something I really like about their squeaky voices accompanied by these raw and sweet pop melodies, similar to Hellström, Broder Daniel, and Nordpolen. But I was never a hardcore fan of one specific artist though—apart from my Mr. Ozio phase. I just loved how his music always felt like a soundtrack to an absurd movie. His music was aggressive but goofy, so dumb but catchy, like “1$44” or “Stunt.” I don’t know why I was so obsessed with that!

Did you ever feel like part of a subculture when you were younger?

There was nothing really going on in Gothenburg when I was a teenager. I was born in 1997 so I wasn’t really part of the Broder Daniel and The Tough Alliance era. It was a bit of an awkward time, I felt very isolated and alone here. I didn’t have any friends who were into the same things as me, so that’s why I was so online I guess.

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