Brian d’Souza is an award-winning sound artist, DJ, music producer and live performer. His compositions fuse field recording from around the globe with electro-acoustic production techniques to create ‘acoustic ecologies’ that are centred on exploring the psychological and physical benefits of sound.
He currently runs the ‘Plants Can Dance (and Mushrooms Sing)’ event series, which is home his work around the creation of bioelectrical music from living organisms: plants, fungi and humans. He uses data to trigger notes on his specially built modular synthesizer in a process called bionsonification, with the intention of bridging the gap between the natural world and electronic music realm.
This work has been commissioned by the likes of Art Angel, National Trust, Het Hem, V&A etc and featured in New Scientist, BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 4, Tate Modern, Rolling Stone, BBC Radio 1 and more.
He is founder of A State Of Flo label and blog, focusing on exploring the biological basis for music, new ecosystems and the creation of acoustic ecologies. A State of Flo releases music under Brian’s alias ‘Auntie Flo’ as well as his artist name ‘Brian d’Souza’, with the notable studio albums ‘Birds Of Paradise’ and ‘In My Dreams (I’m a Bird and I’m Free)’ being released in the past two years. ‘In My Dreams’ was awarded Global Album of the Month in the Guardian and was one of the Albums of the Year by Disco Pogo and DJ History. The first single, Green City, received praise from across the industry, with taste-making DJ Luke Una calling it “A spine tingling spiritual balearic bomb - very special, magical, beautiful - it’s just outrageously good”.
‘In My Dreams’ is the follow up to the 2019 SAY Award (Scottish Album of The Year) winning ‘Radio Highlife’ album (Brownswood 2018). The sold out Radio Highlife UK tour culminated in a main stage Saturday night headline set at the inaugural We Out Here Festival with the Auntie Flo live band. That year he was awarded ‘Scottish Electronic Musician of the Year’ sponsored by the Sub Club and Nordoff Robbins.
His influential Highlife party celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2020, and is widely recognised as introducing a more diverse musical palette to UK dancefloors and beyond. Inverted Audio stated it was ‘one of the most culturally exciting developments to happen to club culture in the UK...a prosperously based groundwork of music which will pave the way to come for artists in future years.’
In 2020 he established Ambient Flo, a 24-hour radio station broadcasting ambient music as a means of combating stress caused due to the pandemic. Ambient Flo collaborated with the likes of KMRU, James Holden, Cold Cut, Gigi Masin, and many more. It received praise from the likes of The Guardian, Rolling Stone and Resident Advisor for its novel ‘Artist Profit Share’ model, with Loud & Quiet proclaiming it represented ‘a new kind of radio station’.
In 2022 he collaborated with award-winning tabla player Sarathy Korwar to release ‘Shruti Dances’. It was awarded Guardian’s Global Album of the Month and led to a tour of India and Nepal in 2023.
Brian currently runs Swell Studio LTD, exploring the uses of sound in health, with clients including Imperial College London, Hotpod Yoga, IHG Hotels and ishga skincare.
Disciplines
Sonic Art
Playlist Curation
Radio
DJing
Music Production
Awards
SAY Award Winner, 2019
Electronic Musician of the Year, 2019
SAY Award Shortlist, 2015
Momentum Award, PRS, 2015
SAY Award Shortlist, 2012
NESTA Creative Pioneer, 2007