Carving out a space between genres is never easy, but for The Wild Child, it’s a necessity rather than a choice. With deep roots in North African music and years spent in the underground house scene, his latest work, In A Struggle, captures the tension between tradition, expectation, and personal expression.

What started as a slow, bluesy experiment evolved into a raw, genre-blurring track, shaped as much by frustration as by creative freedom. In this conversation, The Wild Child reflects on the role of storytelling in instrumental music, the weight of cultural assumptions, and why pushing past labels—whether stylistic or societal—is central to his approach. Against a backdrop of a changing electronic landscape, he speaks candidly about the necessity of live instrumentation, his influences from Dixon to Henrik Schwarz, and his own vision of the future: less trend-following, more boundary-breaking.

“In A Struggle” feels emotionally weighted without being dramatic. What were you trying to express with it—if anything at all—or is interpretation something you leave open?

I know it sounds cheesy but music is a therapy for me. I was overwhelmed between having to work on my music while being a farmer full time. In A Struggle came at a moment where I was also tired of genres, boundaries, categories. I really wanted to write a track that wouldn’t fit anywhere, something that really does represent what I truly like. It was a bit of a « f*ck it » moment. When I started it it a 90 bpm blues track, it’s really until the end when I had the guitar, vocals, and synth that I put it at faster bpm and made it with a proper 4/4 kick.

The title suggests tension, maybe even conflict. How did that idea manifest sonically in the track?

I wanted this track to start as something dark and trippy and open up to something more hopeful eventually. That’s why the second drop is more joyful, like a liberation moment from the struggle. In A Struggle is the expression of what I’ve been through in the last couple of years. There are good and bad days, this track is the expression of both. It’s the soundtrack of my life, pretty much.

You’ve got roots in North African music and years in underground house. Where do those worlds meet for you—and where do they clash?

Hahah good question. African/ Southern artist are not often self determined. We are often categorized as « world music » or whatever. But we do rock, jazz, blues just as good if not even better than the western guys. Actually some of these genres came from us in the first place.

Coming from Morocco, people don’t always understand what you do. And going to underground house, people don’t always understand where you come from. That’s why I wanted to do rock: first because it’s why I always played and secondly because I want to show the world that southern people don’t just do “world music”.

House music has always existed in tension between functional and expressive. Where do you think your work sits on that scale?

I think I’m more on the expressive side. I think it’s beautiful to tell stories without words. Well in this case there are my lyrics but I think the story is also in between the words.

Do you see the current rise of organic or “live-sounding” house as a trend—or a return to something foundational in the genre?

Playing live in the studio is a necessity for me. It’s how I get creative, it’s how I have fun. My music wouldn’t be the same if I were just using software. And for trends, I don’t really care about them.

What’s your relationship with classic house? Are there particular records, artists, or scenes that shaped how you approach your own music?

Well house and techno are my bread and butter. Dixon, Fnx Omar, Henrik Schwarz, Jimi Jules are a few guys who shaped my sound for sure. I think I’m a bit nostalgic of the precovid era, especially the 2014-2018 years where a lot of my favorite records came out. However, I think the years coming are going to be better. I feel like styles go in cycles, and the one coming is exciting me.

How do you see your role—as a producer—in contributing to house music’s evolution, especially as it gets pulled in so many directions right now?

My role is to push the boundaries of sound. I often see myself a bit like an explorer, or an astronaut. For the good of the population I must find some ground that has never been explored, to make people feel emotions that they have never experienced before.

In A Struggle is out now on Nervous Records