Dopamine Dreams: Truus de Groot & Cosmo Vitelli in conversation

So it felt right that we asked both artists to dissect their creative process, unpack the alchemy of their collaboration, and learn how their disparate musical worlds coalesced into this project.

How did you both first meet, and what drew you to collaborate musically?

Cosmo: I knew and liked Plus Instruments even though I didn’t know all the material Truus produced over the years, and especially the more recent stuff. I was working on a new album as Cosmo Vitelli which turned out to be Medhead, and I was desperately looking for vocalists.

I was randomly listening to music at home and my laptop played “Don’t Forget Me”, which I was playing as a DJ regularly, and I had the idea to try and see if Truus was on social networks, and then available for vocals.

It literally took less than an hour: I found her on Facebook, wrote her, she answered straight away and asked me to send her some material, which I did, and she sent back some stuff the next day.

It immediately clicked and was a super easy process to work together.

Truus. Cosmo contacted me early on in the Pandemic through my Facebook page, asking me to try some vocals on some music he had. I was pleasantly surprised hearing his tracks and got to work.

What was the initial spark or idea that inspired your first project together?

C: Truus is always enthusiastic about new music, she almost never says no to a musical proposition. So I would say that outside of the music itself, what made us work together is her effortless creativity, and not being stuck in a specific genre. When we started working together it was for my own music and she would never give up on providing new ideas until something interesting or special would come out. She’s very generous in her work ethic.

T. Our collaboration on Medhead worked so well, we continued to work together. There clearly was a chemistry between us that yielded quite a lot of music. The Dopamine album was curated out of an immense number of songs we created together, and we had to narrow it down to like-minded songs to present a certain vibe.

What was your creative process like when you first began collaborating, and how has it evolved?

C: Sounds like a joke, but to be honest I first told her that maybe she should invest in a good microphone, so the sound was a bit less DIY, that way we can do many more things with the recordings.

Then in the beginning we worked on my music, so basically I’d make the instrumentals, send them to her as she was living in California, and she’d come back to me with ideas and propositions. If they worked, I’d start editing things and producing them, and try to use the whole material as a song.

We never had to engage for work, we did it as friends. With some people it’s absolutely necessary to be physically together when you work with them, with her it’s absolutely not the case.

T. All of our work has been done remotely. So it’s really a lot of back and forth. Cosmo will often have complete pieces of music that might be a loose concept, and I will try a vocal approach, a melody or spoken word. I am triggered by his compositions to a certain feeling, and quickly lyrics or melody ideas develop. Sometimes I present a piece of music, a song or concept, which Cosmo will put his incredible magic production touch on. That is always very exciting when that bounces back to me.

How do you divide creative responsibilities when working on a track or album?

C: It’s super easy. She sometimes provides some synth parts, but most of the time I make the music, and she provides the singing. And I produce and mix the result. I’d say that my role is being a producer.

T. I usually come up with the lyrics and song melody. The music compositions come from both of us, however my music is often more of a primitive idea. Cosmo handles the ultimate production in the end, which completely transforms whatever musical sketch I might have to begin with.

How has your creative process evolved since you first started collaborating?

C: The projects were different: our first collaboration was Medhead, my album, so of course I’d provide all the music first and she’d come with vocals only. On Dopamine Dreams, she’d also come up with vocals or even some musical sketches first, and my mission was to turn them into properly developed tracks with nice arrangements, and give the complete work a proper identity that would make sense on a whole album.

T. It is definitely growing as we learn more about each other. From my point of view, I feel I understand him better as to what he might be looking for. But I keep a very open mind about it. Medhead was a great experience for me to find another way to work on music not my own, but what was great about that is that Cosmo did give me sufficient freedom to come up with my own ideas for the vocals. So there was a lot of creative freedom, which keeps it interesting for me, yet in the end he knows what he wants to hear and pulls it all together into a sublime end product. On Dopamine Dreams, it really pulled us more together as we understood our roles as collaborators. I believe the result is evident of that.

Do you approach songwriting or production differently when working together compared to solo projects?

C: The process is different: there are more discussions when the project is to make a collaborative album like Dopamine Dreams. I want Truus to be happy with the results, and we discussed the different directions we tried to go in. I’m probably more selfish when the album is solo like Medhead, even though of course I’d never release something that Truus is not comfortable with.

T. Definitely, I know I can be quite impulsive and quickly think it sounds good enough. Cosmo certainly is more pragmatic and very thorough in his approach, which is the magic in our creative partnership. I deeply respect his approach.

Can you describe a specific moment when your collaboration pushed you into new creative territories?

C: I don’t know really, we tried track after track to go into different directions even though I hope that most of them have the same coherent color. Of course a couple of times we searched a lot, like for Bombastic Girl or the track Dopamine Dreams, and when it clicked – or at least we hope they do – it felt special, but I wouldn’t say that there was one moment which defined the whole album.

T. When I first heard his production to its fullest – where he did his Cosmo thing. He elevates whatever concept and ingredients there are and brings it to incredible heights. I felt it in the deepest part of my being. You know where you feel it on top of your heart and bouncing around in the pleasure regions of your brain. It was so incredibly amazing, I felt so fortunate to be working with him. Honestly, I have never felt this before working with music in a collaboration. Of course this pushed me into another realm altogether. I have learned so much working with him.

How do you navigate creative differences or challenges in the studio? Ever had an argument? How did you resolve it?

C: I’d say that Truus is more versatile than me music-wise. She’s always up for new directions, never takes it personally when I don’t like something, and she’s possibly the most easygoing person I’ve worked with in music—equally with my friend Julien from Bot’Ox—so I don’t recall any real fight. I hear what she says and adapt myself if I agree with it. I value her point of view, so I always try to understand her thoughts.

We might, from time to time, get lost in translations as I’m French, and you probably know that this country’s speciality is not foreign languages, but we always end up making it.

T. Cosmo is extremely considerate and patient with me, but he is also very honest, which is quite helpful. You keep the focus. We are quite cordial with each other. Since we have only been working remotely, we’ll have to find out how we work in person – who knows, we might excel to even greater heights! With us living in different time zones, it can be weird sometimes because your mood is quite different when you try to go to bed after a long night, and me just getting up with my first coffee.. haha..but as I said, we are very considerate with each other.

What unique strengths do each of you bring to the table in your collaboration?

C: Truus is versatile, persistent, and generous in her work. Sometimes she’s a tiny bit impatient, but it’s because she’s super enthusiastic, which is great to still be when you have made music for so long. My role is more to focus on the production and give a special identity to the track. Again, I see myself as a producer.

T. Cosmo’s incredibly wonderful production skills and finding just the best sounds, out-of-this-world mixes, and truly a dream come true as far as how he conveys my vocals.

How do your individual musical backgrounds influence the work you create together?

C: We both have a solid rock/post-punk-ish background, so we understand each other. She probably comes more from an arty and improvised music world, I might be more “pop” and tend to structure the music into songs more. Personally, I think I know where she comes from, and I try to respect that and not to put her in territories that she’s not comfortable with.

T. I believe we have similar backgrounds and likes. Perhaps also not quite technically trained or stuck to traditional chord progressions. Not afraid of a right dose of noise and some weirdness, but certainly a desire to create something unique.

What advice would you give to other musicians looking to form lasting creative partnerships?

C: Just one: don’t try too hard. Work with friends or people you like only. If the process is too painful, forget it.

T. Be patient and honest with each other?

How did the concept for your new album come about and what inspired the sound and direction of your latest project?

C: Truus will probably speak about the lyrics, but on my side, I didn’t want to make a minimal electronic album. I wanted variety in the genres, proper arrangements, lots of guitars. Basically, I wanted it to sound as if it had been produced with a band in a studio a long time ago. I’d like it to have a sort of nostalgic side to it.

T. It came about organically through quite a bit of material. That is the magic of working with Cosmo – it triggers lyrics that come to be through a deep feeling for the music. After careful consideration, we decided to go for a more atmospheric feeling. Something to transpose you to another place. At least that is what I think.

What do you hope listeners take away from your new album?

C: I don’t decide that, but at least I hope it doesn’t sound like a lot of other records being released these days.

T. A unique and timeless document that creates a mood to take you somewhere else altogether, and that is uniquely Cosmo/Truus.

Dopamine Dreams is out now.

All the links are here

Physical copies on Bandcamp

Footnotes:

Truus de Groot built her career on a foundation of avant-garde artistry with pioneering work with Plus Instruments during the New York no-wave era; de Groot has collaborated with influential artists like Lee Ranaldo and Michel Waisvisz, crafting music that defies easy categorization. Her projects range from analogue synthesizer explorations to blues-inspired improvisation, often featuring custom-built instruments. With a focus on spontaneity and pushing boundaries, her oeuvre reflects a restless creative spirit.

Vitelli is a Paris-born and Berlin-based producer who has evolved from his roots in the late 1990s French Touch scene. His debut in 1998 for Disques Solid marked him as a standout in the electronic music landscape. Over time, he shifted toward more experimental sounds, founding the I’m a Cliché label in 2004, which nurtured artists like Simian Mobile Disco and Red Axes. His own work, including the critically regarded Medhead, has explored layered, nuanced production, often veering away from dancefloor norms into more reflective territory.

Their partnership first emerged on Medhead, where de Groot’s contributions to several tracks added an element of vocal unpredictability to Vitelli’s structured soundscapes. In Dopamine Dreams, the pair deepens this synergy, merging Vitelli’s meticulous production style with de Groot’s unrestrained, experimental energy. The album navigates a spectrum of moods—from introspective and brooding to playful and irreverent—offering a modern take on vintage avant-garde influences.