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BIOGRAPHY


Zoë Mc Pherson embodies the unexpected. Their vibrant, nuanced music tests sonic extremes and musical pleasure, grapples with politics and raw emotion, shapes fantasy concepts and meditates on reality. Contrasts are hardwired into their projects, performances and collaborations, bringing bold forms into sharp relief — the constant in their art is evolution. 

Mc Pherson has developed an arc of accomplished albums and EPs which strike out into uncharted zones, moving from the acute percussive angles of earlier albums through to more melodious, vocal-charged exploration. The sonic elements shifting within their sound reach from the physicality of soundsystem music to the hyper-kinetic rhythms of singeli, avant-garde synthesis, textural experimentation and the unfiltered emotive impact of club-ready pop. 

Alongside their releases, Mc Pherson has performed live and DJ'd at a steady stream of esteemed events and venues across the world from Berlin's CTM Festival to MUTEK Mexico, The Hague's Rewire to Novas Frequências in Rio de Janeiro. They also undertake a wide variety of installations, commissions and collaborations, taking in residencies with the 4DSOUND System at MONOM in Berlin and Montréal's PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art and curating events with bULt for a queer-run club in Almaty, Kazakhstan. They've performed with French sound artist Jessica Ekomane and worked with Ugandan singeli pioneers Jay Mitta and DJ Diaki as 30K, created sound design for Maison Taskin and Elastique and taught workshops, notably at Vienna’s University of Music and Performing arts, while running a regular radio show at Refuge worldwide.

From leading workshops to artistic direction for professional clients, educational initiatives and personal projects, their multifaceted practice taps into the self-sustaining, DIY spirit of creative communities across continents.

Mc Pherson's own node within the global information exchange is SFX, a multimedia platform they founded in 2020. SFX serves as an outlet for most of Mc Pherson's musical releases and ambitious audio-visual works in collaboration with Alessandra Leone such as the collaborative project XquisiteForce.AV. The SFX events also extends the reach of the project into live settings.  Being across all aspects of their creative output, from concept to production to distribution, affords Mc Pherson complete control to carve out their space on their own terms.

Freedom and self-reliance are intrinsic to understanding Zoë Mc Pherson as they stand right now. Possibility beats at the core of everything they do, responding acutely to the intensity of the modern experience and exploring new angles of expression in sharply sophisticated, compelling ways.

CURATION, DIRECTION


SFX events & partnerships | 2020-now
SFX label | 2020-now

SELECTED PRESS


The Wire review | 2025
DJ Mag | premiere of together we ride | 2025
FACT Signal Path : Zoë Mc Pherson on mangling sound and multimedia collaboration | video itw | 2020
DAZED | interview | 2023
Hemisphere son | feature
A CLOSER LISTEN | review
Resident Advisor | news
The Wire | interview
DJ Mag  | selections series
BBC6 - Mary Ann Hobbs Music of the near future : premiere

  More press here 

SELECTED LIVE SHOWS

OIL Shenzhen, China | 2025
Casa Dao, Hong Kong | 2025
Club Daphnia, Osaka, Japan | 2025
REWIRE, Den Haag | 2025 and 2023
Intonal festival, Malmö | 2025
NOPA festival, Armenia | 2025
ROBOT festival, Bologna, Italy | 2025
The White Hotel, Manchester, UK | 2025
Bogotrax | Bogota | 2024
Elevate festival, Graz, Austria | 2024
Gaité Lyrique, Paris, France | 2024
Les Nuits Sonores, Lyon, France  | 2024
Norbergfestival, Norway  | 2024
MUTEK festival, Montréal, Canada  | 2024
Maintenant festival, Rennes, France  | 2024
Le Botanique, Brussels, Belgium  | 2024
Razzmatazz, Barcelona, Spain  | 2024
Fuchs2, Prague, Czech Republic  | 2024
MUTEK festival | Mexico | 2023
BERGHAIN Saule | Berlin | 2023
ICA  | London | 2023
RSO | Berlin | 2023
Bourse de commerce | Paris | 2023
Scopitone festival | Nantes | 2023
Insomnia festival | Trømso | 2023
MIRA festival | Barcelona | 2023
Novas Frequências | Rio de Janeiro | 2023
LEV festival | Gijon | 2023
4GB Festival, Georgia | 2023
BERGHAIN Halle | Berlin | 2021
CTM festival | Berlin | 2021
POSITIVE EDUCATION festival | St Etienne | 2021
LEV festival | Madrid | 2021
INKONST | Malmö | 2021
MUTABOR | Moscow | 2019
CONCRETE | Paris | 2019
ROOM 4 RESISTANCE | Berlin, DE | 2019
ZVUK | Алматы, Kazakhstan | 2019
BOILER ROOM | Berlin | 2018
MEAKUSMA FESTIVAL | Eupen | 2018
DE SCHOOL | Amsterdam | 2018
DUBLAB | LA | 2017
LES NUITS BOTANIQUE | Brussels | 2016
MENGI | Reykjavik I 2015

SELECTED SOLO RELEASES


[SFX10] UPSIDE DOWN | SFX | LP/Vinyl |  2025
[SFX09] CHAOS 3.0 LIVE | SFX | 2024
[SF04] PITCH BLENDER | SFX | LP/Vinyl | 2023
[SF02] STATES OF FUGUE | SFX | LP/Vinyl  | 2020
[SF01] STRING FIGURES | SVS RECORDS | AV album / LP / AV Live show | 2018

OTHER SELECTED RELEASES


EP SIIIX, Vol.2 by HIIIT | Maloca records | 2025
MTY-Air Mama Told ya | 2023
Ostgut Ton | Fünfzehn + 1 compilation | CD and Vinyl | Ostgut Ton | 2021

SPATIAL SOUND INSTALLATION & PERFORMANCES


HOLDING | 4D Sound installation | PHI, Montreal | 2024
AMBISONICS LIVE SET FOR ELEVATE FESTIVAL | Dom im Berg, Graz | 2024
WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM | 4D Sound installation | MONOM, Berlin  | 2023 ; Dom im Berg, Graz  | 2023 ; ZiMMT, Leipzig | 2023 ; Cosmo, Venice | 2023 ; Stone Nest | London UK  | 2023 ; 3537 | Paris FR  | 2023 , Monom Spatial sound festival | Berlin DE | 2022
IN ABSTENTIA | Multichannelsound installation | Silent Green Berlin DE | 2021
ON HOLD | Multichannel sound installation | Aljhambra Berlin DE | 2021

SELECTED RESIDENCIES


SELECTED RESIDENCIES
MONOME | Berlin, DE | 2022
AFROPOLLINATION | Kampala, UG | 2022
SHAPE | 2021-2022
INKONST | Malmö, SU | 2021
PALACE | PL | 2020
LYL RADIO | 2020
NOODS RADIO | 2020
RED BULL STUDIOS | Berlin and Amsterdam | 2019
RMC | Copenhagen, DK | 2018
BEURSSCHOUWBURG | Brussels, BE | 2018
ELEKTRON MUSIK STUDION | Stockholm, SE | 2017
REITIR | Siglugjördur, IS | 2016

SELECTED TALKS, WORKSHOPS


Workshop, Music for Performing Arts | Vienna | Berlin | 2024
Workshop, Music school | Vienna | Berlin | 2024
Ableton live for beginners workshop | Berlin | 2024
Sound design workshop | mediale Architekturdarstellung - mAD  | Hannover, DE | 2022
Audiovisual collaboration workshop | CAMP  | Pyrénnes, FR  |  2022
3D sound Workshop | Almaty, Kazakhstan | 2022


SOUND DESIGN


MAISON TASKIN | Mixed Reality Fashion Film | 2022
ELASTIQUE | Creative agency for brand communication | 2022
FUTURECORE 2000, all beats are beautiful | Dance Performance by Gloria Hockner | 2019
WITHIN | Installation by Tarek Atoui at Kunstenfestivaldesarts | 2018
VOX | Dance piece by  David Hernandez, scenography by Zdravka Kirigin | 2019
In Dreams for Klara radio BE | Rework of Dion Mc Gregor’s dreamworld | 2018
AZ | Dance piece by choreographer Aki Iwamoto | 2018


AWARDS, BOOKS


Techno 100 Book |  Pitch Blender one of 100 classic techno albums - by J Y Leloup | 2025
SHAPE artist  | 2021
First price ‘Les Octaves de la musique | category electronic music | 2019
Best music video at Berlin Independent Film festival | 2019
Best experimental video at Berlin Music Video Awards | 2018
Vimeo staff pick | 2018
Associated artist at Beursschouwburg Brussels | from 2017 to 2019