Photay is 21-year-old Evan Shornstein. For years he has been recording and releasing music via Bandcamp, but on August 26th he will release Photay, his first official album via Astro Nautico.

Today he shares the first cut from the album “Reconstruct” , which features vocals from labelmate Seafloor.

Shornstein cites Aphex Twin and the music of Guinea, Africa as major influences to his sound which are encompassed by “Reconstruct”. He combines up-tempo drums, grandiose horns and layers of bouncy electronics seamlessly, resulting in a vibrant and playful track.

Photay is the solo musical endeavor of Evan Shornstein, a 21-year-old hailing from the lush and peaceful evergreen valley of Woodstock, NY.

Having been introduced to Aphex Twin at the tender age of 9, he quickly began to embrace music in all of its forms. This early inspiration provided a foundation for his musical growth in drumming, turntablism and eventually composition. Drawing on a wide range of global influences, he dove headfirst into the world of audio experimentation, initially through mixes recorded using his turntables, and later on through the use of digital audio software. 

After an eye-opening trip to Guinea, West Africa, Photay was born. Combining his newly acquired knowledge of polyrhythmic percussion and years of experimenting with sampling and field recordings, he went on to create and self-release his first project under the alias. Seamlessly combining a variety of audio sources and techniques, Photay’s sound is a balancing act of analog and digital, of natural and synthetic. It is not designed exclusively for headphones nor the dancefloor, but is genuinely at home in both contexts.