Where Are We Going?
Where Are We Going? is the fourth studio album of American house producer Maya Bouldry-Morrison, known by her stage name as Octo Octa. It was released in March 2017 by HNYTRX, a sub-imprint of queer label Honey Soundsystem. It is her first album to be released after publicly revealing in 2016 that she was transgender and contains a much more uplifting tone than the records she released before revealing her gender identity. While still following the classic house sound of her past releases, Bouldry-Morrison intended the LP to be a more "overt" statement than the "coded queer statement" of her previous album Between Two Selves. The album was well received by critics and landed on the year-end lists of Crack Magazine, Mixmag, Noisey, and Resident Advisor.
Background and concept
In an interview for Resident Advisor published on February 3, 2016, Bouldry-Morrison came out as a trans woman and claimed she was planning to start producing an album conceptually about her transitioning process. She wrote Where Are We Going? in 2016 shortly after doing the interview. She cites the records of DJ Sprinkles such as Routes Not Roots and Midtown 120 Blues as inspiration to make the record: "Being trans, seeing art that's publicly being written by a trans producer meant a lot to me. I was happy to find work that was openly talking about it."Feeling that Bouldry-Morrison's previous album, Between Two Selves was a "coded queer statement," she wanted to make Where Are We Going? a more "overt" statement about her sexuality. As such, she moved from 100% Silk to a queer label named Honey Soundsystem to work with Jackie House on the album: "I really wanted to do this record with an overtly queer label. That was super important to me. Also, Jackie just is really good at helping me realize what it should be and what we should be doing around it." House handled many duties regarding the LP, such as the mastering of the songs and the record's promotion.
Composition
Where Are We Going? continues Octo Octa's signature style of 1990s-inspired, Balearic-tinged piano-heavy chill-out house music. Differences from previous records include more complex compositions, less vocal samples, and a brighter tone: while her past releases contained uncertain feelings that reflected her worries regarding revealing her gender identity publicly, Where Are We Going? has an uplifting tone. However, it ends on a negative note with the second part of the title track. As she explained its meaning, "I’m good, overall, but I face a lot of unexpected interactions and emotions every day that I didn’t foresee before being out.""No More Pain " and "Move On " are the album's slower moments, departing from Octo Octa's house sound for "pensive piano lilts" and Amen breaks, summarized Crack Magazine. For "No More Pain," Bouldry-Morrison intended to make the same type of IDM and breakcore that she used to produce as a teenager. Bouldry-Morrison made two versions of "Move On," the final one included on the album and the "Stress Mix," which included a drum ’n’ bass-style bassline.