“gleaning elusive emotions from a rich, whisked swirl of glistening tones that remain dangerously high in the mix, sustaining and imparting a perpetually heightened state of sensitivity that either makes each ornate shimmer and glisten cut like a piano string garotte”

Pouya Ehsaei is a musician, sound designer, producer, curator and promoter from Iran, currently based in London. 

Pouya started his musical career in the underground scene of his hometown Tehran. He has since performed in acclaimed venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre, Southbank Centre and the Royal Academy of Arts as well as several festivals including Montreux Jazz Festival, Womex, Womad, Fusion, Shambala and Linecheck. 

He has released two solo albums There (2014) & RocRast (2020). Pouya is the leader of the band Ariwo and the figure behind the electronic and live music club night Parasang. With Ariwo he has recorded and produced two studio albums Ariwo (2017) & Quasi (2019).

During the lockdown in 2020 & 2021, he developed technologies that made it possible to play with other musicians, dancers and visual artists in real-time. The 12 shows he produced, under the Parasang moniker, were streamed on Twitch and Youtube. At these shows, he played live sets with artists from around the world from Korea to Detroit from their bedrooms: Regis Kinre Molina (Cuba/Germany), Jihye Kim (Korea), Mahan Mirarab (Iran/Austria), Marikiscrycrycry (UK), Byron Wallen (UK), Yolanda Perez (Cuba), Elliot Galvin (UK), Laura Jurd (UK), Amir B Ash (Iran), Razieh Kooshki (Iran/Austria), Tormoz (Iran), Chantel Foo (UK), Johanna Burnheart (Germany), Dafni Krazoudi (Greece), Binker Golding (Uk) and more. You can Watch one of the streams here.

Pouya has a Ma in Music Technology and a PhD in Music from the University of York and has been continuing his artistic research to this. He also teaches composition, production and sound engineering.

He has composed music for film, performance, installation, VR and games and produced music for songwriters in different styles, hip-hop, jazz, electro and experimental. His music has been played on radio shows around the world, e.q. BBC, NTS, Noods, Refuge Worldwide and Dublab. He has a radio show on radio Alhara where he introduces Iranian musicians and DJs to the radio’s listeners.

in 2022, Pouya has run a radio campaign called “Sonic Liberation Front in Solidarity with Iran and Kurdistan”. 28 Iranian female musicians and DJs took over radios around the world from Tbilisi to Austin for 28 hours of music that was emotional, inspiring, moving and powerful at the same time. You can find all the mixes here.

Pouya has been one of the most prolific electronic musicians in London over the past few years. He has played with around 80 musicians from different backgrounds during the past three years.