Kicking up a SOUNDSTORM with MORTEN: Interview

“It’s a great way to see how the country is transforming, and to see how dance music is evolving. In that way SOUNDSTORM really stands out” says MORTEN.

At this year’s edition of MDLBEAST SOUNDSTORM festival out in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, we caught up with Future Rave head honcho MORTEN to get his thoughts on the expanding universe of Future Rave, how it feels to play in Saudi and the success of his multiple solo releases throughout this year.

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Hi MORTEN, thanks for joining us! You’ve played a big part of the beginnings of SOUNDSTORM, having played multiple editions now. What do you think makes this festival unique from any others around the world?

“Hello, thank you for having me. Of course it’s very unique here because they didn’t have festivals even just a decade ago and it’s a great way to see how the country is transforming, and to see how dance music is evolving. In that way SOUNDSTORM really stands out, and then I also think that they have some of the most powerful festival lineups on the planet so it’s massive.”

How does it feel to be able to bring a Future Rave set to a place like this?

“I think it’s sick! I like that we have Future Rave a little bit differently in places around the world such as Los Angeles, New York, Ibiza and now in Saudi Arabia, it’s cool and I like it. We’re doing a show in Denmark as well, and I want our music to be heard all over the world and this is one of those steps.”

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Also moving on to discuss your solo releases this year, 2023 has been massive for you in that regard. Is your creation process different when you release solo records versus working with someone like David Guetta?

“It’s actually very difficult to separate what should be Future Rave and what should be MORTEN because every record is made with so much passion that I don’t think too much about what is for what project, it’s just more of a case of if there’s room in the calendar or if it fits with where we are going direction-wise with Future Rave. Right now I’m just super inspired and I love making music.”

Most of your releases in 2023 have also been hosted on the Future Rave label. Can you tell a bit more about the label and why it was started?

“We wanted to make a label to just be able to release music on our own platform in whichever way works for us, and we wanted to be able to have the young producers send us music, for us to listen to music and to be honest we’ve been very busy so we’ve wanted to put more work into the label but we’re starting slowly and a lot of great things are going to happen.”

What is next for you, both solo and for Future Rave?

“I have a solo track and David and I have 4 or 5 tracks ready, and if you know David he probably has 200 tracks ready to release!”