MAGNET Exclusive: Premiere Of Emile Mosseri’s “I Could Be Your Hands”

Emile Mosseri’s ties to the film industry made for some cinematic moments on his 2023 debut, Heaven Hunters. With the upcoming Tryin To Be Born (Greedy Heart), he turns the lens inward, with help from producer Bobby Krlic (the Haxan Cloak), guitarist Meg Duffy (Kevin Morby, Perfume Genius), multi-instrumentalist Dougie Stu and drummer Kosta Galanopolous. “I Could Be Your Hands” is the latest single from the LP, which is available February 28.

“It’s a love song about comradery and brotherhood with kind of a ‘Bonnie And Clyde’ vibe to it,” says Mosseri.

A native New Yorker who studied film scoring at Berklee College of Music, Mosseri was a founding member of indie-rock foursome the Dig. Relocating to Los Angeles, he shifted his focus to composition—a move that ultimately paid off. In 2019, he scored Joe Talbot’s feature debut, The Last Black Man In San Francisco, which earned his friend the best-director prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Two years later, Mosseri nabbed an Oscar nomination for his scoring of Minari, a critically acclaimed drama directed by Lee Isaac Chung. The jobs have continued to come for Mosseri—and he and Talbot remain close. “I Could Be Your Hands” is a case in point.

“I wrote it with Joe,” says Mosseri. “He’s my best bud and favorite filmmaker, and he serves as a kind of creative director for my solo records with my album covers and videos. I score his films, but this was the first time we wrote lyrics together. We wrote it at his place in one night, and we hammered out final touches over the phone and with text and voice memos. Sometimes writing lyrics can be agony, but this one came easily. Pure joy.”

We’re proud to premiere Emile Mosseri’s “I Could Be Your Hands.” 

—Hobart Rowland

See Emile Mosseri live