Emile Mosseri takes us track-by-track through his sophomore album ‘tryin to be born’ – an intimate, raw, and revelatory meditation on love that captures the beauty of long-term companionship, the ache of self-reflection, and the magic of live, in-the-moment collaboration.
“this time i lost my mind” – Emile Mosseri
There’s a warmth and intimacy to Emile Mosseri’s music that makes every song feel like a whispered confession, or a memory unfolding in real-time.
A celebrated composer and songwriter, Mosseri has spent years crafting soundtracks that elevate the emotional weight of films (Minari, The Last Black Man in San Francisco), but his own music tells a different kind of story – one that is raw, unfiltered, and deeply personal. On his sophomore album, tryin to be born, he leans fully into that vulnerability, capturing the quiet beauty of long-term love, the ache of self-reflection, and the joy of spontaneous creation.
Released February 28th, 2025 via Greedy Heart Records, tryin to be born arrives two long and creatively fulfilling years after the release of Emile Mosseri’s debut solo album, Heaven Hunters. Produced by friend and collaborator Bobby Krlic, Heaven Hunters introduced Mosseri’s deeply expressive songwriting through an ethereal and often cinematic lens; in contrast, his latest effort feels even more immediate – rooted in the energy of live performance and connection. Recorded over the course of just a few weeks, the album finds Mosseri working with a close-knit band featuring Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), Dougie Stu, and Kosta Galanopoulos, capturing the spirit of spontaneity as they tracked songs live to tape.
“I wrote these songs for the most part over a short period of time, we recorded the solo ones at Bobby’s studio, and then we did five days with a band at Altamira studios in Alhambra California,” Mosseri tells Atwood Magazine. “We hit this kind of magical frequency where I would teach the band a song each day and we’d record it right away live to tape. Bobby was producing and Meg Duffy, Dougie Stu, and Kosta Galanopoulos, we’re playing guitar, bass, and drums. Our buddy James Riotto was engineering, and we became this little family for a week. It was one of the best experiences of my life, musically and just on a human level.”
For Mosseri, that sense of creative chemistry wasn’t just about the process; it shaped the heart of the album itself. The immediacy of live recording, the trust between collaborators, and an instinct-driven approach all played a role in bringing the eleven tracks on tryin to be born to life. But what was he setting out to capture in the first place?
“I didn’t really have a mission statement other than to write songs that were vulnerable and lyrically straightforward,” he explains. “I ended up with a lot of songs about the sanctuary side of love. That was exciting and felt romantic to me, to write love songs about long term companionship and all of the bliss and longing and everything in between that comes with that.”
Mosseri’s close friend and collaborator filmmaker Joe Talbot came up with the album’s striking title phrase. “It felt connected to these songs to me and also kind of had an old timey vibe to it that clashed with the songs in a cool way,” Mosseri recalls. That push and pull between nostalgia and something more immediate mirrors the album’s sonic identity – one that feels organic, raw, and deeply present in the moment – we’re not just listening through headphones, but standing in the room as a group of individuals craft something intimate, something special, and something far greater than the sum of its parts, together.
“It’s my second solo record, and it feels more alive to me than my first, or my scores,” he reflects. “That’s hugely because of Bobby and the gang that played on it and breathed life and magic into it.”
Highlights abound on the journey from the album’s intimate and boldly dramatic opener “bloodboy” to its cathartic finale, “you & your boyfriend” – one of Mosseri’s two personal favorites, along with the achingly vulnerable “the time i lost my mind.”
“I wrote ‘you & your boyfriend’ years ago with my old band while we were making an EP called Human Love up in Stinson Beach California,” he smiles. “I had this idea of writing a song from the prospective of a pathetic heartbroken fellow who wants his girl back and is willing to take her new boy as part of the deal. My bandmate David Baldwin came up with my favorite line of the tune which is, ‘he’s paying double but you can stay for free.’ I always liked this one more than anyone else in the band did. Nobody else seemed to know what to make of it, but I love it, so squeezed it on here. It’s kind of the direction I’d like to go in, in terms of songwriting, so it’s nice that it’s the last one the record. It gives me a place to pick up where I left off on the next one.”
Further standouts include the hauntingly beautiful “wasting your love,” the gently bittersweet “not going anywhere,” and the visceral fever dream “Don’t Fall Back So Easily ” – a tender, McCartneyesque ballad of love, longing, and letting go that premiered on Atwood Magazine earlier this year.
At the time, we praised the track as “a gentle giant of intimacy, heartache, and raw vulnerability,” and lauded Mosseri and his bandmates for crafting “a breathtakingly beautiful moment of unfiltered, honest human connection.”
With tryin to be born, Emile Mosseri has crafted an album that feels as lived-in as it does revelatory – one that thrives on imperfection, spontaneity, and the irreplaceable magic of human connection. It’s a record about love in its truest, least adorned form: Not the fleeting spark of infatuation, but the deep, enduring companionship that lingers long after the butterflies fade. Through its raw, tape-warmed textures and its deeply felt lyricism, tryin to be born doesn’t just document a moment—it creates one, inviting us to step inside and feel its warmth, its longing, and its quiet, resounding beauty.
At its core, the album is a meditation on love – the kind that endures, transforms, and deepens over time. For Mosseri, these songs aren’t about grand gestures or fleeting passion; they’re about something far more profound.
“My hope is that anyone who hears it and has been in a marriage or long-term love will understand these songs as deeply romantic love songs, not about the butterflies but about something bigger,” Mosseri shares. “There’s so much love in them, and creating it was so fun and putting them out is so satisfying.”
Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Emile Mosseri’s tryin to be born with Atwood Magazine as he takes us track-by-track through the music and lyrics of his sophomore album!
— —
:: stream/purchase tryin to be born here ::
:: connect with Emile Mosseri here ::
— —
‘tryin to be born’ – Emile Mosseri
:: Inside tryin to be born ::
— —
bloodboy
This is the oldest song on the record. It had been kicking around for a year or two. Sometimes you can lose sight of an older one but Bobby Krlic, who produced the record responded to it. We ended recording this one as a trio, Meg Duffy, Bobby and I. He gave it a new life and made me love it again.
once in a while
I’ve always loved songs where the message is in the gaps. Songs where the real sentiment is in the negative space that’s alluded to but never said. Like Dylan’s ‘Most of the Time’ or Chet baker’s ‘I Get Along Without You Very Well’ I wanted to write a love song in that tradition about falling short as a partner by singing about how I show up.
not going anywhere
This is one that I had a chorus kicking around that I loved and couldn’t crack the lyrics for a while, I ended up sending it to my friend Joe Talbot, and he and I wrote the lyrics together, This was the first song we’d written together, We’ve worked for years as composer and filmmaker, and he’s made my album covers and videos, but was fun to dive into lyrics together and have his voice baked into the music, felt like we found another corner of our collaborative brain.
easing in
This was another one that I wrote very fast and then forgot about. then I played it for Bobby as a voice memo kind of as an afterthought and he really responded to it, and we recorded a quick live performance of it at his place.
wasting your love
Wasting Your Love” is a song about marriage. It’s not about the butterfly or honeymoon parts of new love, but the sanctuary, mundanity, and deeply romantic side of long-term love. It is about the gap between who I am and who I want to be—love can be taken for granted, and reciprocity can slip through the cracks. This song is about being invisible to each other and then finding each other again.
sugar tree
This is a song about my childhood and adulthood love, and sort of a self deprecating take on suspended adolescence, and how so many of us boys need the nudge of a woman to make those life leaps. This one really came to life in the studio too, with Dougie and Meg ripping on it, and has the great Jon Natchez playing this woodwind arrangement I had written years ago.
don’t fall back so easily
Don’t fall back so easily I wrote originally as a piano ballad. Bobby had the idea to slow it down and sludge it up and play it with the band and the song became brand new again to my tired old ears. This tune was a bit of a starting point and birthed the idea to record an album live to tape with a band and move away from the piano and cinematic music.
this time i lost my mind
Wrote this around the time my daughter was born. It came faster than the others to write. this one we recorded on our last day at the studio after we sent the band home, Just Bobby, James Riotto and me, i played the guitar part twice as fast slowed it down on the tape machine to get the guitar sound we liked. Was a peaceful and fun and cathartic way to finish making the record.
a whole life
This is another angle on a love song, about trading funny dusty old infidelity stories with your partner and being able to laugh about them and unlocking another level of your love. Was a fun one to write.
i could be your hands
This is another one I wrote with Joe. It’s a love song about camaraderie and brotherhood with a kind of Bonnie and Clyde vibe to it. We wrote the lyrics at his place in one sitting, the chords and melody were something I had kicking around for years and used instrumentally but it always felt like it should be a song to me. Happy to have it fully realized and out in the world all this years later.
you & your boyfriend
This is my favorite one on the record. I wrote this years ago with my old band while we were making an EP called Human Love up in Stinson Beach California. I had this idea of writing a song from the prospective of a pathetic heartbroken fellow who wants his girl back and is willing to take her new boy as part of the deal. My bandmate David Baldwin came up with my favorite line of the tune which is “he’s paying double but you can stay for free” I always liked this one more than anyone else in the band did. Nobody else seemed to know what to make of it but I love it so squeezed it on here. It’s kind of the direction I’d like to go in terms of songwriting so it’s nice that it’s the last one the record. Gives me a place to pick up where I left off on the next one.
— —
:: stream/purchase tryin to be born here ::
:: connect with Emile Mosseri here ::
— —
upcoming tour dates
March 15th / Philadelphia, PA / Johnny Brenda’s
March 18th / Toronto, ON / Drake Underground
March 20th / Chicago, IL / Old Town School of Folk Music
March 22nd / Portland, OR / The Old Church Concert Hall
March 23rd / Seattle, WA / Madame Lou’s
March 25th / San Francisco, CA / The Chapel
March 27th / Los Angele, CA / Lodge Room
April 19th / Paris, FR / Le POPUP du Label
April 20th / Cologne, DE / Jake
April 21st / Utrecht, NL / Club Nine at TivoliVredenburg
April 23rd / Berlin, DE / Privatclub
April 28th / London, UK / St Pancras Old Church
— — — —
Connect to Emile Mosseri on
Twitter, TikTok, Instagram
Discover new music on Atwood Magazine
© Cameron Parkins
© Cameron Parkinstryin to be born
an album by Emile Mosseri
