Taren’s breakout track Blood in the Water has already amassed almost 500,000 streams

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Transporting you back to a euphoric moment, filled dancefloor or a moment in time, Taren Gopi (@tarengopimusic) has found some magic in his music room to pair a modern feel with a nostalgic overtone.

Born in Gravesend and raised in Dartford, Taren has carved out a distinctive space in the electronic scene with his electrifying synth-driven performances and social-media video sessions. Known for transforming keyboards and hardware into immersive soundscapes, Taren’s breakout track Blood in the Water has already amassed almost 500,000 streams, with follow-up singles turning heads. We got in touch to find out more.

SO, TAREN, YOUR MUSIC IS REALLY TAKING OFF - ARE YOU DOING IT FULL-TIME NOW?

Not yet, but I do work for a music-tech company. So my team make music apps and software, which is really good because everyone I work with is music-aligned - lots of producers and singers and everything.

DOES THAT MEAN YOU’RE QUITE TECHY - WE’VE SEEN YOU PLAY SYNTHS AND THINGS IN YOUR VIDEOS?

Well, I’m not a developer or an engineer. My job basically is to decide what we’re going to build. So not as much technically inclined, but obviously there’s a bit of having to have some experience being a user of music software and understanding people who want to make music and stuff like that. It’s great to come into work and just be able to chat to anyone about synths and new stuff that’s coming out.

WHERE DOES YOUR LOVE OF HOUSE MUSIC COME FROM?

Good question. I’ve always made music with a focus on melodies and instrumentation. The sounds are really important to me, but I’m not sure where that came from. My hero growing up was Eric Prydz - his different aliases and everything. I think it was mainly because of that melodic side to his music where that’s very much the focus. And then into my early 20s is when I started to discover garage and more house kinds of stuff. Over the years, those things have just started to come together a little bit - like the last release, Interpretation of You, is definitely having some inspiration from the older Eric Prydz stuff and garage influence as well.

HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO PLAY INSTRUMENTS?

My brother and I had music lessons when we were younger. I actually started on the violin and I was horrific at it. And then my mum bought me a keyboard - I was just taken by that completely and started trying to learn songs that I liked at the time, and I think since then, that’s definitely given me a good foundation for when I really started to make music.

I know a lot of other producers who don’t necessarily play an instrument. For them, it’s a lot more experimentation. But for me, I like to play in the sounds, rather than clicking them in or sampling stuff. Playing is where I find the most fulfilling way to make music.

THE LISTENING NUMBERS ARE TAKING OFF - WHEN DID YOUR OFFICIAL RELEASES BEGIN?

In terms of official releases, Blood in the Water was the first. I started making music when I was about 14, but I ended up quitting for three years. I came back to it really seriously around Covid, naturally - I had so much time to do it. I got involved with Disclosure (EDM duo), who were doing Twitch streams and remix competitions. I sent in Blood in the Water and they gave it a really big boost. I then made a TikTok video about Disclosure supporting the track and it just went crazy. People found it on TikTok and then went to Spotify to hear it in full.

YOU MUST HAVE THOUGHT ‘THIS MUSIC THING IS EASY!’

It was a bit of a poison chalice because your first release doing really well means the next one’s very hard to follow up, so now I’m just trying to keep that momentum going and just see where I can take it.

WE SAW YOU GOT PLAYED OUT BY JAGUAR ON BBC, TOO! HOW DID IT FEEL?

Yeah, big, I think. Having your music played on Radio One is an incredible feeling. The track was Karma, and Jaguar made it the ‘dance-floor moment’ on her show, which is massive. Radio Kent has been really supportive as well over the last couple of years. But having it on national radio is such a nice feeling.

HOW DID YOU KNOW TO LISTEN AND THAT IT WOULD BE PLAYED?

BBC has an uploader so you can see when someone’s listened to it and which show they have listened from. They’ll say ‘Hey, we’re going to play your song tonight - listen at this hour’.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC TO PEOPLE WHO HAVEN’T HEARD IT?

I would say, obviously, it’s mainly electronic music. I’ve always had this thing about melodies that feel nostalgic, and that’s a big part of the sound. I don’t think I try to make that - it just kind of comes out naturally. But also I’m trying to make something that makes you want to move, that kind of groove to it. I see my music is like trying to strive for the middle point between those two things. But I still try to make sure they have a bit of that feeling and emotion in them, too.

DO YOU HAVE A PICTURE IN YOUR MIND OF WHERE A TRACK WOULD BE PLAYED?

Sometimes. Maybe you have a reference and you think ‘Oh, I’d love to make a tune that sounds a bit like that’ - a tune that gives me that feeling, you get those goose bumps and you want to go and dance to it.

For me, making music is a bit like solving a puzzle - you’re guided by the sounds. It doesn’t feel like you’re creating something from nothing. You’re trying to find the right sound to match this other one.

It’s feeling your way through the different layers and textures and stuff until you find the right one.

DO YOU HAVE A GOAL FOR THE NEXT YEAR OR SO?

I’ve got another song coming out shortly, which is quite different from the last one, but I’m hoping listeners will see there’s something similar in there. Over the next couple of months, I’m really just trying to build up some momentum because I’m seeing from the last few that, as long as you put stuff out, opportunities will come up. I’m trying to just stay on top of that and make sure I stay more disciplined with creating and putting aside time to create.

SO MORE RELEASES ARE COMING - WHAT ABOUT LIVE STUFF?

I try not to be too precious about what I’m putting out there, and largely just see where I can take it. I’d love to be able to spend more of my working week doing music stuff, but it’s still quite early at the moment. But, yeah, playing shows is definitely in the plans.

DID ANY LABELS APPROACH YOU AFTER BLOOD IN THE WATER WENT BIG?

Yeah, I had a few A&Rs reaching out asking for demos. I had some really cool opportunities, like one of my favourite artists, Kryptogram, messaged me and asked if he could do a remix of it, which was just an incredible moment. It was just amazing to hear his signature sounds on my tune as a remix. We didn’t end up putting it out officially, but I’ve still got that file on my laptop. I like to listen back to that initial moment when things started to get rolling.