Above Image Cred: Tom de Kort
Rose Ringed has built a career on melodic storytelling, but his debut album Mylène is set to take that instinct to its most personal place yet. Introduced with the latest release of the single “Gave It All” on his Closed Eyes Recordings label, the project reflects on the childhood loss of his mother, a jazz ballerina whose influence continues to shape his music today. Across the upcoming album, chords and carefully crafted arrangements carry a thread of melancholy, turning grief into something expansive, human, and unafraid of emotion, and today’s release of ‘Gave It All’ is a continuation of this story.
In our conversation, Rose spoke about how his taste has changed, the challenges of finding original music in an algorithm-driven culture, and the decisions that guide his DJ sets. His perspective bridges the technical and the emotional, from crate digging workflows to the role of storytelling in electronic music. It is the same mindset that runs through “Blue Eyes,” a concise, melodic tribute inspired by a childhood memory of looking into his mother’s eyes and seeing sunlight in the blue.
With the follow-up single “One More Time” released on August 1 and the full Mylène album arriving October 17, Rose is building a series of releases that stand on their own while contributing to a larger narrative. The tracks mirror his DJ ethos: emotive, melodic, and designed for connection on the dancefloor. Here, he shares his thoughts on the art of DJing, the search for originality, and the process behind shaping a sound that is entirely his own.
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How has your taste changed over the years—and what do you think helped shape it?
I’ve gone through many many periods in my life of listening to electronic music. It all started with trance, listening to Armin van Buuren and Tiësto then I listened to a lot of movie composers music, like the lord of the rings scores Howard Shore or Hans Zimmer’s beautiful scores. I also had a period of drum & bass where I listened to the Liquicity YouTube channel a lot. This was followed by a period of rock, with bands like the black keys or 30 seconds to mars. Also I listened to ethereal music by Enya and others.
My love for electronic music came back in my early 20’s when I started to study and went to house and techno festivals. Early influences were Oliver Stories, Weval, Kölsch and David August. I came into the electronic music scene when both Diynamic and Innervisions were in their early popular days and looking back at this time I realize how amazing this was. The music had so much space for musicality, chords, story, depth. It’s something I’m missing in todays popular labels and genres, there is so little depth, so much quick dopamine hitting drops. Luckily there are still many artist embracing storytelling and emotional depth in their music.
As a DJ I started playing house and disco. Followed by the deeper melodic German sound and never came back from following melodic music. My heart loves chords and melodies and lots of energy. That’s why I also started to play more house and groovy tracks that have this strong energy in them. It’s recognizable in the modern diynamic and innervisions sound. Also I absolutely have always loved progressive house, Guy J is probably my favorite dj & producer, he has it’s own distinct style which just perfectly fits dj sets, which is remarkable and incredible to me.
Do you intentionally seek out music outside your comfort zone, or does that happen naturally?
Yes very much, I crave things that are original but it’s hard to find stuff that’s both original and produced well enough to work on the dance floor. Unfortunately some of the more creative original works I hear don’t translate well to a dance floor. More underground Dj’s take more risks playing this rare gems, which I sometimes do too but I find that for instance older rare records just doesn’t hit in between two modern productions that sound hard and punchy.
I’m always looking for stuff that makes use of out of the box ideas, arrangement, hooks. I think innervisions is a good label that searches for records that push ordinary boundaries.
Also, I recently had this insight, the more I develop my own sound, the harder it becomes to like other music. Since I’m developing my own taste in dance music more and more, the gap between my taste of other music and my own music becomes bigger. Not because mine is better, but because the choices I make to differentiate more and more from the ordinary sound. And what I hear and see most is other producers copying the most popular genre and make a twist out of that. It’s getting more and more frustrating for me to dig for new music I love playing in my sets.
When you’re crate-digging, do you think your instincts are faster now than when you started?
If we’re talking about vinyl crate digging: that’s something I rarely do. I actually did that in my earlier days as a DJ. I went to local record store Rush Hour many times and digged there, but I was never really a vinyl digger. I always tell people there are 2 kind of dis, one of them is digging records the whole week, and the other one is producing the whole week, which is what I do.
If we’re talking about digital digging, recently I love YouTube Music more and more, since it gives more original results. I also love to make Spotify playlist and see what the algorithm brings me, it gave me so many tracks with very little plays that suited my sets perfectly. Then I love to add those tracks on Beatport and see what that algorithm gives me. So yeah, I’m mostly digging by algorithms.
Is there a part of your process that helps you train your ear or challenge your biases?
I think me being a producer and someone that is always listening to electronic music makes me very experienced in recognizing tracks that are different and challenge my biases. I don’t think I have many biases, my ear is very open to many kind of tracks.
But I do have this bias towards the feeling a track gives me, if it’s negative / dark / too dissonant I don’t like it, I want to be energized in a positive way by the music I’m listening too and playing towards other people.
What’s a genre, scene, or sound that surprised you once you gave it a real chance?
Tech house is a genre that I’ve always liked, but never really digged into, it’s always on the edge of my taste. Although recently I’ve started to really appreciate the way these producers invest so much time in getting that groove (or pocket) perfect. It’s a completely different approach to producing.
They can spend hours on a loop, on the right hihat kick and clap, and getting these simple elements perfect seems easy to people, but is actually pretty hard. Chris Lake is a good example of the sound I’m describing, I think he’s king in this.
Do you think DJs today are developing taste in the same way—or has that changed with streaming culture?
I think streaming culture and social media are influencing a more mono taste of music. When there is something going viral, everyone copies that genre.
Like what is happening with afro-house now, it’s understandable that producers chase success this way, but it makes tracks sound so similar and less exciting. I see many people copying trends having huge successes, which is good for them since making money in the music industry isn’t easy. But saying that, to be the next Keinemusik or Fred again, you have to stick what is truly interesting to you. Something original of which you have absolutely no clue whether people will like it. That’s the path I’m taking, it’s longer, but hopefully more fruitful in the end.
So to get back to your question, it changed a lot. I think dj’s before widespread internet were way more original in their productions and taste, since they were not influenced by countless social media posts that promote that same hit or successful genre. There were just music junkies that wanted to get the people to dance. Of course, they copied the most recent hits too, people don’t change, but the culture has changed tremendously.
What’s something you’ve recently added to your crate that you wouldn’t have touched a few years ago?
To be real, I never “cancel” out a genre or track. I don’t think music is there to be divided by good and or bad. I think the most important thing for me to hear is that it was something made with intention, passion, love. When I feel or hear that I tend to love the track, and that could be any genre.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
