Words by Brooke Gibbs.

In a global industry where less than 5% of credited producers and engineers are women, Melbourne/Naarm producer, artist and engineer Mo•Louie is stepping forward with a project that refuses to be overlooked. Australia doesn’t keep an official census on female producers, but the global imbalance is unmistakably reflected here at home; a landscape Mo has been reshaping, challenging and rebuilding for over a decade.

“For me, the stigma around pregnancy and parenthood in this industry is fucking stupid,” Mo says. “Look at the brilliance that’s already come from parents in music. Lily Allen’s West End Girl is some of her most exciting and honest work, she has two kids. Anna Laverty engineered The Milk on Milk album one week before giving birth. Logic1000 continues to reshape the electronic landscape as a mother. Parenthood has never dulled creativity, it sharpens it. And yet the industry still acts like it’s an inconvenience.”

It’s a radical truth to name, and the timing of this EP makes it even sharper. Though written before her pregnancy, the themes running through Breakdowns & Dance Floors; instability, transformation, euphoric abandon, collapse and rebirth; now resonate with new force as she steps into motherhood. It’s a juxtaposition rarely seen, let alone celebrated, in Australian electronic music.

Mo’s recent single, Will You Be There, has already signaled the arrival of something significant. Now comes the full vision.

Breakdowns & Dance Floors is the result of two years marked by mental-health turbulence, creative obsession and an unshakeable work ethic. “I’ve moved through waves of happiness, major depression, anxiety, euphoria, psychosis, meltdowns, desire, confidence and imposter syndrome, often intensely,” Mo shares.” This EP became a place to channel that rollercoaster into sound.”

Built on bold synth architecture, experimental sound design and emotionally charged arrangements, the EP fuses alt-pop, electronic production and raw honesty into something both chaotic and meticulously engineered. The collision of groove and emotional gravity evokes the visceral pulse of Robyn, the art-pop elasticity of Caroline Polachek, the futurism of FKA Twigs and the left-field theatricality of Childish Gambino yet remains unmistakably Mo•Louie.

Across the last few years, Mo has solidified her reputation as one of Australia’s most compelling producer-engineers in the alt-pop and electronic space. Her credits stretch across Adam Noviello, Aphir, Dirty Versachi, ROMÆO, DOGi KATZ and Your Girl Pho. She uplifts emerging creators through her work with the Music Producers & Engineers Guild Australia, has served as a panellist for Creative Victoria’s Music Works program, earned a Music Victoria nomination for Best Producer, and continues to advocate for genuine systemic change across the industry.

Breakdowns & Dance Floors isn’t just a record. It’s a reckoning. A contribution to a movement. A declaration that women, especially mothers, deserve to be in the room, at the desk, behind the console and at the very centre of the future of Australian music.

Breakdowns & Dance Floors is a body of work that embodies not only where Mo•Louie has been, but where she’s pushing the industry to go next.

Breakdowns & Dance Floors is out on Monday, 8 December 2025.

Track list:

1) An Introduction to Chaos

2) Forever

3) Touch Me

4) Will You Be There

5) Breakdowns & Dancefloors