Alice Youngling returns to Non Merci Music on September 25 with her new single “May I Please,” a groove-driven tech house record built around rolling melodies, swinging percussion, emotive vocals, filtered chords, rising pads, charged trumpets, and upswinging synths. The Swiss-born, Barcelona-based DJ and producer has been steadily building her profile through a residency at Tunnel, appearances alongside Eats Everything, Dennis Ferrer, and Route 94, and festival slots at Marvellous Island and Shambala.
In a new interview with Magnetic Magazine, Youngling traces the thinking behind her approach to both DJing and production, starting with the moment her relationship to house music deepened. A few years into her DJ career, she was given the book The Underground Is Massive, which charts the rise of electronic dance music in the United States. She worked through the book’s tracklist methodically, listening to every referenced record, and describes it as the experience that connected the dots between house music and its roots in disco and the Black, Latino, and queer communities that built it.
That historical awareness feeds directly into how she thinks about her own records. Youngling describes her goal as a newer producer as understanding what makes established, tried-and-tested tracks work and translating that knowledge into her own sound. She frames house as a feeling rather than a formula, and says each release brings her closer to capturing it. “May I Please” is presented as another step in that direction — club-focused and rhythmically charged, but carrying enough soul and musical character to sit outside anonymous dancefloor functionality.
On the question of cultural memory, Youngling references a phrase that stayed with her: DJs as living archives. She argues that in a streaming-dominated environment, DJs retain a distinct function by collecting music across formats and sharing it across generations, cultures, and backgrounds. She describes this bridging role — connecting past and present, creating new memories while surfacing older ones — as a core duty of the DJ.
Youngling also reflects on her five years with Barcelona collective Cabana Libre, where she worked as both a DJ and event producer. The collective built events around themes, decorations, and music, taking club culture into daytime settings and creating space for dressing up, self-expression, and community. She credits that period with forming friendships and connections that extended well beyond the events themselves, describing it as something that felt bigger than a standard party.
The interview arrives at a moment when Youngling is clearly thinking carefully about what it means to work inside a musical tradition rather than simply alongside it. Her answers draw a consistent line between finding records and genuinely understanding where they come from — and between playing for a room and building something that lasts beyond the night.
Source: Magnetic Magazine
