Mascolo on Blending Classical Guitar with Dance Music and the Creative Freedom Behind New EP, “Just Us”
The French-American producer talks His sonic evolution, working with LP Giobbi, and how his debut EP bridges intricate melodies with electrifying beats
Photo cred: SARTAKESPICS
With an established background in classical guitar and a passion for pushing sonic boundaries, Mascolo bridges the worlds of intricate instrumentation and electronic energy on Just Us, his debut EP on LP Giobbi’s Yes Yes Yes imprint via Defected Records. Across six tracks, he seamlessly blends lush melodies, emotive textures, and dance-driven beats, creating a collection that feels both intimate and spacious.
We caught up with Mascolo to dive into his creative process behind Just Us, exploring how his classical training informs his production, the lessons he's learned from collaboration, and what’s next as he continues to evolve.
How has your classical guitar training influenced the sound and structure of your tracks on “Just Us”? Can you share a specific moment during the creation process where these two worlds collided most seamlessly?
My track ‘Call’ is probably the best example of these worlds coming together. That song is very much a dance track, but a lot of the melodic information is written on guitar and there’s classical guitar recorded all over that track. The process there is playing the guitar over just a small loop of the drums and bass and then sampling re-pitching and placing it throughout the song to create the chord movements and little guitar flourishes. I love trying to blend my classical upbringing into the electronic stuff and feel like the guitar, especially the softer nylon string classical guitar is such a pretty contrast to a more driving darker electronic tracks like ‘Call’.
I’m sure your collaboration with LP Giobbi and the Yes Yes Yes team played a pivotal role in shaping this EP. What was the most impactful part of that creative partnership, and how did it push your boundaries as an artist?
LP and I have a really nice push and pull when we work, I can get trapped in making too many edits and overthinking something to the point that it loses its original form and magic — sometimes edits are good, but that's something I’m working on, the fine line of making enough changes to the original demo without messing it up and she pushes me to call it good and just get it out to the world.
Tracks like "Almitra" and "Won't You Stay" evoke a sense of intimacy and self-reflection. What stories or emotions were you hoping to convey through these tracks, and how do they connect to the overarching themes of the EP?
I appreciate hearing that in there. ‘Won’t You Stay’ is an old song I wrote in like 2020, it was about my relationship at the time and written when we were spending every moment together during that lockdown. ‘Almitra’ is a more recent track that I feel is a hypnotic kind of release. Together for me they feel comforting and cathartic one after the other, ‘Almitra’ was meant to bring the energy and emotion back up to dance land from ‘Won’t You Stay’ while keeping the intimacy and not being too jarring of a switch. That's just how they feel to me of course!
You’ve spoken about the artistic freedom you experienced while creating “Just Us”. How did this freedom shape your approach to experimentation, and what risks did you take musically that you might not have otherwise?
With the EP I felt like I was spanning a couple of different genres with the collection of songs that I had collected for it, that always felt like a problem to me, but this time around I did my best to instead make peace with that variation being a part of my artistry; so I ended including a track like ‘Won’t You Stay’ in with the dancier bits, hopefully I’ll keep to it and get better at combining my different musical sides going forward with the next projects.
‘Just Us’ Cover Art
Community and connection seem to be integral to your music and live performances. How do you translate these values into both your studio work and your festival sets at events like Coachella and Electric Forest?
For me, one of the best bits of making music is creating it alongside people that you love and have deep friendships with. And then with every performance I feel how sharing it is also one of the best bits. So I’m not entirely sure how I translate that into my work, but hopefully I get to share the process as much as possible in both in performance and in the studio! I did try to make a project with a romantic partner at one point though and that may have been just a little too far.
The EP transitions from synth-driven tracks like "All I" to more introspective pieces like "Almitra." Was there a specific journey or narrative you wanted listeners to experience as they moved through the record?
The way I ordered out the EP was maybe a bit like what I’d want from a night out at a concert with an artist whose music I really love. You get some pretty, euphoric stuff, get some darker stuff, some melancholy and some joyous and hopefully come out of it feeling like you were in a different world for a bit. Each track holds its own little therapeutic moment for me, so hopefully the journey can take you through that type of thing and through some shit you’re dealing with. That said though any way that someone might interpret it is cool as hell regardless of what it is, doesn’t have to be all heavy, just a fun listen through is great as well.
With “Just Us” marking a significant milestone in your career, what’s next for you? Are there any new sonic directions or collaborations you’re eager to explore?
I’m working on my next EP now and I’m really excited on the new batch of music and sound I’m on. Lots of live drums on this next one, and more singing as well. In the meantime, I have some one off singles and a few collabs out soon! Thanks for having me!