Viv Castle Is in His Element on ‘Shoes’ and Finding His Flow in Lisbon
- Undrtone Blog
- Jul 11
- 3 min read
Viv Castle is not pressing reset. He’s building on solid ground, sharpening his sound, and trusting his instincts more than ever. His new single ‘Shoes’, out now via Data Transmission, shows exactly where he’s at. It’s refined, subtle and built with purpose. No frills, no filler, just a focused club track with a hypnotic vocal hook from frequent collaborator Belle. Buy/stream it here: https://music.boostdj.co/shoes.
Viv recently relocated from Atlanta to Lisbon. It wasn’t just for the pasteis de nata. “I needed a break from Atlanta’s pollen and bad drivers,” he jokes. But more importantly, Lisbon brought him closer to the European labels backing his music and gave him a change of pace. “The scenery definitely creeps into the music. Everything’s a little moodier now, a little breezier, but still hits hard.”
That balance is at the core of what makes Viv’s music connect. ‘Shoes’ opens with a rolling low-end groove and stripped-back drums. Belle’s vocal glides across the beat with a cool kind of restraint. There’s no drama. It just locks in. “She saw a clip of me DJing under black light where my shoes lit up and sent me a vocal idea at 3am,” says Viv. “Raw, weird and wonderful. That became the seed.”
The pair have worked together before. Their last collab, ‘Come My Way’, connected with both selectors and streamers. ‘Shoes’ goes even deeper. It’s darker, sharper, more hypnotic. The chemistry is real, but it never gets in the way of function. This is a tool for DJs. Nothing wasted. Every detail counts.
Viv’s approach to production is more about subtracting than adding. “I usually start with too much going on — distortion, clashing synths, drums too loud — then spend too long peeling it back. Like making soup and tasting it every 30 seconds until it stops burning your mouth.”
That process has earned him releases on Spinnin’, Insomniac, Circus, and Diynamic. These are the labels he once chased on Beatport. “Now they’re hitting me up and saying yes. It’s surreal,” he says. “It gives me confidence that I’m not just making noise into the void.”
Viv’s music has always straddled the line between energy and emotion. He’s drawn to tension and space, especially after spending time on both sides of the Atlantic. “The US wants big builds and drops. Europe leans more into groove and atmosphere. I try to ride that line.”
His studio setup in Lisbon reflects that mindset. It’s all in the box, headphones on, chaos semi-contained by IKEA furniture. “The biggest change is headspace. Here, I take more time. I don’t feel the same rush to finish everything in one sitting.”
That clarity carries into how he plays his tracks in the club. “I’m always tweaking. I’ll be in the booth thinking, ‘Why did I put that snare there?’ But once the track’s out and people are reacting, I try to shut my brain off. Or fake it really well.”
Viv’s also reaching into the past. He’s reworked Sasha & Maria’s ‘Be As One’ - a track that shaped his early club memories. “It’s pure nostalgia. I didn’t want to reinvent it, just add more bite without losing the soul. The diehards might hate me for it. But I had to try.”
He’s not stopping there. More collabs are on the way. Some darker. Some wild. “There’s one that’s all-out mayhem. And maybe a track built entirely from samples I record at a dog park,” he says. “No idea if it’ll work. But I like weird.”
Viv Castle’s new chapter isn’t loud or attention-seeking. It’s steady, thoughtful and built to last. ‘Shoes’ is just the latest proof. The foundations are there. The direction is clear. And the best part is, he’s only just getting started.
Viv Castle
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