Get to know Aïsha Devi, purveyor of heady club experimentalism

The most meaningful dancefloor moments happen when you can completely detach yourself from the outside world. If the DJ, soundsystem and crowd come together at the right time, you can achieve a rare clarity and more intuitive way of inhabiting your body. No one knows this better than Aïsha Devi.

Raised in a Swiss village by her grandmother, she grew up listening to classical composers and realised she could sing while walking her dog as a 12-year-old. “First I was listening in a passive way,” she tells us. “And then I realised I could be active in music, and create an atmosphere with my voice.”

While at art school in Lausanne, a graphic designer friend introduced her to electronic experimentalists like Autechre and Pan Sonic. Though she cites the EBM group Front 242 as her inspiration to start making music, seeing Pan Sonic live was a real turning point: “I liked the power of it. Frequency has the ability to physically impact your body and change your mood.”

On her second LP for Houndstooth, ‘DNA Feelings’, Devi explores the transformative properties of sound, employing lots of binaural frequencies. Her goal is to clandestinely empower people by using her live show as a way to blast healing frequencies through powerful soundsystems.