Berlin-based multidisciplinary artist AYEN GL returns with BIOME, a six-track EP of distorted club deconstructions, and a statement of intent from an artist shedding her skin to build a new identity. BIOME is out April 10th on AYEN GL’s own Plush Ember imprint. Following on from last year’s debut EP, Limited Vision – a project marked by introspective vulnerability – BIOME signals a new era of world-building for AYEN in which she embraces her wounds and unapologetically commands the narrative.
The ‘biome’ itself functions here as a dystopian place of anxiety and fantasy. AYEN elaborates:
“The biome is for me a very rotten place. It’s like a hologram of a small town, like the suburban version of the 2049 Blade Runner L.A. – imagine a kind of ashy and dusty setting. The biome is an arena to stage the screenplay for what I’m most scared of, and also to live out what brings me the most pleasure. So it’s also sexual satisfaction. It’s both.”
From this uncanny place, she plays with genre, sound and feeling with the expanse of a true visionary, switching dexterously between styles and sonic tapestries in total control of her craft. Her vocals permeate with surreal ethereality through harsh distortions and cold rhythmic frameworks, toying with the ebb and flow of affect and emotion throughout the entire EP.
What began as a musical project built to shelter the artist from a painful reality on her debut EP re-emerges as a cunty testament to the power of embracing one’s infinite potential.
Hey! It’s great to have you here! Could you please tell us more about yourself and your journey in the industry? Where are you currently based, and what changed after your debut EP ?
Coming from a scene that is connected to improvised acoustic music, I was much more focused on singing and writing scores for small and large ensembles in my earlier work. Now I’m currently waking up somewhere completely different. While the essence of my creative process remains grounded in a familiar logic, the instrumental parts have shifted to an electronic tapestry and merged through the visual connection in the world of a video game or a virtual reality. So the surface changed. I’m currently based in Berlin, for me that’s the place where I can touch the realms of fantasy and dystopia, juxtaposed with a vibrant club scene where I currently feel very comfortable and inspired.
Since the release of my debut EP, Limited Vision, which was an exploration of introspective vulnerability, I’ve changed quite a lot. It was a period marked by shadowy introspection and cathartic creation. Now, with BIOME, I’m embracing a new era. I’ve found power in my wounds and I’m transitioning to a place where I feel so much more connected. The alchemy of transmuting pain into art has presented a path of liberation.
We’re thrilled to delve into your new EP released on your imprint. Could you provide further insight into the release, including each track’s production process? and also introduce your label Plush Ember to our audience. What is the future of the label?
The imagination of what the BIOME is has been haunting me for the last two years. I’ve been searching for this place of broad interpretation for longings and showcasing an arena to open my personal Pandora’s box within all the fear and restrictions that I’ve been holding onto. I think that’s what led this EP into a very explicit language that’s still very visceral to me. For me, the whole lyrical work on BIOME was very liberating, to be honest. We mainly worked on the production through last winter in synergy with the music and the visual work at the same time. Everything flourished through the inspiration of each other. I was already shooting the music video to “BITCH BITE” at a time when the rest of the EP wasn’t finished yet. So all the imagination I got from being on set of the music video or further working with Zeynep Schilling and Vasileo Dagli on the artwork and the illustration of what BIOME and the arena looks like has also shaped my music production. Besides that, working with TCV and Neve on sound was just magical, I think we just spoke one language and it delivered to be this cold expansion of what connects me to club sounds and limitless artistic possibilities.
Plush Ember is my label, and I’d like to think about it as a future sanctuary for bold and unorthodox sound. I’m currently curating performances and community gatherings for other people. I’m planning to do that much more often through my own imprint the next years and bring more artists into the fold that are also keen on experimentalism. I think there are also some topics that I’m very emotional about that don’t receive enough attention, addressing them through a bigger collective is also something that I could imagine.
We are intrigued by the fantasy-dystopian world you described, where anxiety and fantasy connect. How does this world function when it comes to artists, particularly musicians, creating their work?
Fantasy is a double-edged sword. For me, it’s this world of escapism, allowing myself to construct alternate realities and narratives through not restricting myself heavily. I think I was scared to see what narrative lives within me, so I needed the arena. On the other hand, I’m also not ready to totally disconnect. My dystopia is not about avoidance; it’s about sending a fighter in game mode to get battle-ready for confrontation or like having your body in a different place than your mind is.
I’ve also been in constant contact, with everyone who collaborated with me on this, about the push and pull between anxiety and fantasy and we are all very connected through that as being a generator for the beyond. I think the artistic expression lies deeply in the core of the human experience, especially in such a turbulent setting.
We appreciate how you blend fashion with your artistic projects. What inspired you to connect these two elements in such a unique way?
I’m an over-thinker, so I have to admit that not thinking about fashion in a sense of characterization and drama of my world just wasn’t an option. So, I guess it’s the way I approach things—it comes very naturally to connect everything I’m allowing myself to see. I’ve been working in the scene for some time now and know my way around, so I’m very glad to be in a space where my work doesn’t have to be one-sided. I’m living for the whole picture, the atmosphere, and the multiplicity – I think for me this is music and also fashion and art.
If you could tell us about your daily workflow, how do you usually get inspired and connect with music?
In the studio, I let intuition lead. There’s a ritualistic aspect to my process. Currently my mind is very oversaturated so I try to focus more on expanding my sound library by experimenting. Also collaboration plays a crucial role; at the moment I don’t have the intention to work alone. Still it’s not easy for me, I am perpetually anxious about reaching out and even more so about working solo, rendering the creative space both personal and fraught with tension. Actually the arena is also very present when I’m in a very personal space working on music.
Besides that I’m quite a lot on the run and public transport serves as my unexpected muse. That’s where most of my lyrics are coming up and I’m sorting them meticulously. Inspiration strikes at the most unpredictable moments, by a fleeting soundscape or a surge of raw emotion.
If you could tell us your ten favorite tracks from this year so far? What would it be?
Reason Why (feat. Kim Petras & BC Kingdom) – SOPHIE
sexo no tradicional – Luca Eck, Six Sex
Hard Cover – Sevyn 0000
Viconian Cycles – Amnesia Scanner Remix – Lila Tirando a Violeta, Sin Maldita
Blackball – LYZZA
Grand Theft Auto – BABYNYMPH
Cordyceps – TCV Remix – Azrel
LAVA – SPANKED SIREN
worldstar – NEW YORK
Exorcism – Rezz, KAVARI
