Showcase: Miss Wright

Miss Wright carries equal parts confidence and playfulness, and your route to trance and techno ran through funk, soul, and rock and roll. What is the story behind the name, and was the path to electronic music a gradual drift or did something specific pull you across?

The name is a play on my surname. As Miss Wright I want to be the one who brings you sounds that make you feel like you are in the right place at the right time, because the music speaks meaningfully to you in that moment and becomes part of an experience that will stay with you.

From a young age I got to listen to my dad’s Elvis and Doors CDs. I was lucky in that my dad invested in a quality sound system, so I learnt early on what a difference that makes to enjoying music. I still use his same Kenwood amp and record player with my home setup. His musical tastes influenced me a lot growing up. So my name is also an homage to him, as he passed away some years ago, and making my family name so prominent in my life feels like a way of honouring him.

I have always enjoyed many genres of music, and there is always something new to listen to and learn about. It is extra special to listen to new kinds of music with other people because they can tell you what is meaningful about it for them, and open your eyes to something new. That is how I came to find electronic music. I started hanging out with drum ‘n bass DJs, and a lot of the drum ‘n bass parties also have other dance floors. I was at a Newtown Takeover party at Carfax, and found myself increasingly drifting over to the techno stage at And.

Eventually I realised I had been dancing on that one floor for hours, and a music I had never previously understood had suddenly become cohesive to my ears. After that I could not get enough of techno and started learning more about the different kinds of techno and engaging with it regularly. Before that night I really did not get techno at all, which made it even more special to me when I finally did, because this music was outside of my expectation and so getting to enjoy it feels like a broader sign about the unexpected abundance of life.

I grew to love trance from these same dance floors, but also from festivals out of the city like Revolution at New Year’s Eve, where you get to connect with other humans. For me trance speaks to a deeper level of consciousness where we can all be curious and loving, and not at all judgemental, and trance has a community of those kinds of open, gentle, and receptive people around it.

You bring an infectious energy to the decks and your hashtag says it all with #ComeDanceWithMe. Is that energy something you bring to the music, or is it something the music brings out of you?

It is a synergy. Music gives me energy, and that energy then grows inside me to guide me in choosing the next track. So between the music and me and whoever is listening and giving and receiving energy, we figure it out together.

At the baseline though, I give all respect to the music and the musicians making it. I am thankful every day for the people in the world who are making music. They bring fire, joy, emotion, and focus into my day with their creativity and honesty.

Your style is described as playful and full of personality, yet trance and techno can be intense and cerebral spaces. How do you hold onto that lightness, and is there an invisible thread connecting all your selections that makes it unmistakably a Miss Wright set regardless of genre?

“To me techno feels like a nurturing, enclosing environment. The music starts and you are on a journey with these walls of sound pulsing all around you, containing you, and a relentless beat driving you forward to a destination that could be anything from a fun night out to a deep realisation or understanding about your life that you never saw coming in that moment.

A Miss Wright set will hopefully find you unable to keep your body still. I want you to want to get up and experience the music with your whole body. The intensity of techno soothes my neurospicy brain and gives me a sense of freedom, and I hope the choices I make in a set reflect that feeling of freedom. I also hope to create a feeling of joy. Joy for music, for life, for the moment, for alone time, for together time, and joy that as humans we have been given the gift of music.

You play music because it brings people together. How well does the Beatlab community reflect that belief, and what did being selected in this first round actually feel like?

The entire experience with Beatlab made me feel super special. The team treated me like a headline act at a major event. The community has been incredibly supportive, giving feedback during the set and showing me resources to help me build essential assets like my biography.

The online platform is full of DJs and musicians who are so generous with their experiences, and I feel a real sense of community from the platform. I feel we are all there for the love of music, and are united in the goal of elevating the South African music industry. I cannot express enough how meaningful the Beatlab platform is.

Subsonic on Mutha FM, your mix out there on radio. You are someone who thrives on shared experience, so what does it mean to connect with an audience you cannot even see, and what would you tell Beatlab members who have not yet put their hand up?

“Put your hand up. I will say it over and over! Featuring on a station like Mutha FM, which has so many great DJs, gave me a spark to push harder. I am so grateful for this truly uplifting experience, and I wish for every performer to get an experience like this where they feel heard and seen for doing what they love.”

Responses may have minor edits for clarity.

Miss Wright is proof that the most unexpected musical journeys often lead to the most authentic voices. Beatlab exists to bring those voices to the surface, and the next round of submissions is open now.

If you have a mix that deserves to be heard, join the Beatlab community and submit. Your sound could be next.