Everyday Resilience: Mogipbob on 'Like a Viking'
Punk Head: There’s a clear commitment here to writing about working lives and everyday persistence. What initially pulled you toward those stories, and how do you keep them from slipping into cliché or sentimentality?
Mogipbob: I have always been drawn to the kinds of stories that do not usually get framed as stories, just people getting through their day and doing what needs to be done. A lifetime of observations has allowed me to take note of these types of stories, and it feels honest to write from there.
To avoid cliché, I try to stay specific. Instead of writing about hard work in a general sense, I focus on small details and moments. I am also careful not to tidy things up emotionally. Real life is often unresolved and uneven, and leaving space for that helps keep the songs from feeling overly sentimental.
Punk Head: The album balances character-driven storytelling with more internal, self-reflective songs. When you’re writing, how do you decide whether a feeling becomes a character or stays in your own voice?
Mogipbob: It usually comes down to distance. If something feels too close or too personal to look at directly, I will often move it into a character. That gives me some room to explore it more honestly.
Other times, the feeling is clear enough that it makes more sense to stay in my own voice. It is less about rules and more about what allows the idea to come through naturally.
Punk Head: You mention humor as survival. Can you talk about a moment on the record where humor unlocked something emotionally that a more straightforward approach couldn’t?
Mogipbob: There are moments where a line might come across as dry or understated on the surface, but it is carrying something heavier underneath. Humor lets some air into it and creates contrast, which can make the emotional part land harder.
It can also make the song more relatable. Instead of telling the listener how to feel, it invites them in from the side, which is often closer to how people actually deal with things.
Punk Head: The use of AI for instrumentation and vocals is present but intentionally backgrounded. How do you think about authorship and “human touch” when the performance layer is partially generated?
Mogipbob: For me, the core of authorship is still in the writing, the lyrics, the structure, and the intent behind the song. That is where the real decisions are made.
As someone who is more introverted, the use of AI is a tool that allows me to tell stories that might otherwise go untold. I still guide the phrasing, tone, and arrangement, so the human touch is in the decisions, even if the performance layer is partially generated.
Punk Head: You’re working with a 1970s palette, but the songs don’t feel nostalgic in a sentimental way. What did you want to keep from that era, and what did you deliberately avoid?
Mogipbob: What I like about that era is the focus on songwriting and space, along with an openness to experimentation. The 1970s had an array of great music experimentation, and the music was so strong that it feels like there is still room for more of that spirit.
What I wanted to avoid was leaning too heavily on nostalgia. I was not trying to recreate the past, but to borrow some of those textures while keeping the songs grounded in the present.