Introducing… Photay

Evan Shornstien aka Photay is a difficult producer to categorise as he straddles multiple genres and ideas. Sitting somewhere in the IDM and electronic space, the one current throughout Photay’s music is that he always integrates the outside world. That often means you’ll hear nature’s elements or various cultural instruments in his work too as he travels the world to learn more about it.

For his new single ‘Derecho’ – and the forthcoming album ‘Windswept’ that it is taken from, Photay was inspired by wind. Derecho is the name of a violent windstorm that accompanies thunderstorms. This translates sonically into rolling percussive grooves and surges of synths that sound like VHS machines pressing play and pause. Wind is also unpredictable and the track is characterised by off-key dinks and plonks as if the wind is knocking things over. I also wonder if it is lightning strikes in the distance of the storm. The song is relaxed and hypnotic with a splash of free-spirited oddness.

Enjoy the visualiser for ‘Derecho’ below, the single is out now. It is taken from ‘Windswept’, Photay’s fifth album which will be out 20th September. It is the first album following various collaborations with new age artists so Photay is keen to take all that learning and sharing and channel it into his own unique vision. For more information on all things Photay, visit his website.

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