Fis (NZ)

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FIS (Oliver Peryman)

The sound of Fis is intricately sculpted, unsettling and overwhelmingly physical. Outstripping any space you situate it in, his dark and expansive sound makes the location the music is being played in — your head or a darkly-lit venue — feel like it’s under pressure of collapse. Huge sheets of grinding bass are built upon with distortion, aquatic melodies and penetrated by occasional whipsnap rhythms. His sound is a whirlpool, a riptide, a soundtracked journey into the darkest recesses of existence.

Growing up outside of Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island, as a teenager he was fascinated with the drum’n’bass and jungle that he heard on local student radio. His early releases were his own unique take on this sound, influenced by abstract d’n’b and UK grime but as his career has progressed his attention has turned to even more abstract and experimental explorations of bass frequencies. The fatal earthquakes that hit his native Christchurch hard in 2011 have had a lasting impact on his sound, the sense of dread and claustrophobia in his music has only increased since that time. 

His university studies reflected on British colonial influence on New Zealand, which weighs on his sound as much as recent projects like the one he has with Maori musician Rob Thorne. He relocated to Berlin in 2015 to further develop his musical career and has since gained a reputation as a must-see live act.

Best experienced in sensory-depriving/enhancing darkness Fis makes his debut at MUTEK on a program dedicated to serious doses of drone and heaviosity.