This time last month, we celebrated the release of our Plants Can Dance compilation album in East London. Thanks to everyone who made it, despite not having the physical record ready (I managed to miss 2 UPS deliveries that week!) it was a massive success.

I’m pleased to say the record did eventually arrive and we now have under 100 copies left. If you’d like to own what we believe is the first-ever collection of ‘bio-phillic music’, please head to our Bandcamp. It’s a beautiful package that includes a ‘zine with artist reflections, insights and discussion points that our quest to explore the intersection of nature and music brings up.

It’s also out on all streaming platforms, if you’d just like to listen.

We’ve had some nice reviews come in and will be sharing more shortly.

While listening to these “acoustic ecologies”, as D’Souza calls them, and reading the accompanying notes, a rare kind of calm descends upon the listener. This is achieved through a combination of soft-voiced euphoria, thought-provoking musical phrases and the guests complementing each other. By challenging how we experience music, D’Souza and his collaborators have overseen the germination of something really rather special.

BEN HOGWOOD, Electronic Sound

Three Living Ecosystem Concerts

During our launch party, we debuted Lamine’s ‘Living Ecosystem’ terrariums - for the first time moving them from his Repot plant shop to the venue and connecting to them with our modular synth systems.

Here are the three performances from the event by Lamine, our co-collaborator Pierre Paslier and myself, which are now available on YouTube. You can hear we all create difference soundscapes with similar data - Pierre’s is more drone focussed, Lamine’s includes some beats and mine is more ethereal.

We also heard a beautiful selection of music from DJ Mari Kimura and talk by EarthPercent’s Anna Pickles.

Plants Can Dance Stage at Fringe By The Sea

We’ll be taking the Living Ecosystems to a ten-day residency at The Fringe By The Sea Festival in North Berwick, Scotland betweem 31st-10th August.

There will be a dedicated Plants Can Dance stage and we’ll be hosting three biosonification and terrarium building workshops per day, in amongst various performances. We’ll have various devices to play with including the Pocket Scion, and we’ll demonstrate how you can make your own plant music.

We’re designing an interactive watering system that audience members can play with to adjust the sound and light in the ecosystem and will be working with Instruo modular to create a custom LED lighting rig that will bring a super cool lighting element.

The workshops are limited to 12 people and are £7 or £5 for kids

Book now

For those in town - The Auntie Flo live band will also be performing on the 2nd of August. We’re bringing Andrew Ashong as guest vocalist alongside a very special guest, who will be announced on the night.

TICKETS

Plants Can Dance T-Shirts

We’ve made 50 limited edition Plants Can Dance T-Shirts! Unisex, organic, cotton, white long-sleeved - they’ve been selling fast and we only have 20 or so left.

Every purchase includes a digital download of the album and printed copy of the ‘zine

BUY NOW

SUPPORT

Plants Can Dance compilation is out now! I’m delighted with the finished product - thanks to everyone who has listening, purchased or supported it so far. And thanks to everyone who came to our launch party last weekend, videos and report coming soon.

Please help support the project by purchasing from Bandcamp -

Or, if Bandcamp’s not your thing - click here for a selection of links to streaming platforms and record stores.

10% of all proceeds go to EarthPercent, and the rest goes to helping the artists featured on the compilation further their explorations into what Helen Anahita Wilson calls ‘bio-phillic music’: music inspired by and made in collaboration with plants and other living organisms and eco-systems.

Interview with Justin Wiggan

Justin Wiggan is a sound artist based in Cornwall. His track ‘A Spectral Wind’ is one of the compilation highlights, fusing a soundscape he created with his custom-built ‘Windjammer’ device and a collaboration with celebrated Norwegian Jazz musician Arve Henriksen.

It is quite a coup to have Arve on this compilation. I’ve been a big fan of his since my teenage years when his music was introduced to me by my father. Something about the glacial minimalism and contemporary Scandi-jazz production intrigued me, and his signature sound is evident in ‘A Spectral Wind’.

During the interview Justin and I talk about many things related to his practise, with the twin drivers of maintaining a child-like curiosity and being mindful of budget at the core of his work. These factors have led to Justin having to think very far outside the box when it comes to the music he makes. He is a true experimentalist: building devices from scratch, allowing him to work with various types of elemental data - from sea waves to lunar rays, wind, ice and fire.

He describes this is using a phrase that he’s lived with since childhood: “Even a carrot can become a torch.”

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW:

Transcript below:

Brian d’Sousa:
Justin, could you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your background and what you do?

Justin Wiggan:
My name is Justin Wiggan, and I have a real passion for sound and the therapeutic qualities it can have.

From the age of five, I’ve been captivated by music and the way it can evoke emotions and create experiences. My journey into the world of sound design began when I was given a small portable tape recorder, which I used to capture everyday sounds.

I became fascinated by the idea of creating immersive sonic landscapes, and that curiosity led me to explore different sound editing techniques.

Brian:
How did that interest develop into your career?

Justin:
During my time at university, I studied sound engineering and began working on experimental projects, collaborating with musicians and artists from a range of different disciplines.

My early career focused on music production and audio post-production for film and television. That gave me the opportunity to develop skills in sound mixing, mastering and soundscape design.

I also worked on immersive theatre projects, where I was able to experiment with spatial audio and interactive sound installations.

Brian:
Was there a particular project that stands out for you?

Justin:
One of the most rewarding projects I worked on was a collaboration with a renowned sound artist to create an interactive sound installation exploring the relationship between sound and nature.

We combined field recordings, synthesised sounds and bioacoustic data to create an evocative soundscape that responded to the audience’s presence. It was a wonderful opportunity to explore how sound can create meaningful connections between people and the natural world.

Brian:
Your work often explores the therapeutic potential of sound. Can you tell us more about that?

Justin:
I’m passionate about the therapeutic potential of sound and its ability to promote wellbeing.

I’ve been involved in research projects exploring the use of sound therapy for stress reduction, pain management and improving sleep. My goal is to create sound experiences that not only entertain but also heal, inspire and encourage people to connect more deeply with themselves and their surroundings.

Brian:
Music has clearly been a constant throughout your life. How did your journey into experimental sound begin?

Justin:
I started out as the singer in a band in the 1990s. We were an indie band, we got signed, had a record deal and did some exciting things. What that really gave me was time in the recording studio, and I began to realise that the studio itself could be an instrument.

Before that I’d been in punk bands as a kid, recording on cassette tapes and MiniDiscs—whatever I could get my hands on. But being in a professional studio allowed me to experiment with sound in a completely different way. It sparked a curiosity that has stayed with me ever since.

After leaving that band, I joined a project with Darren Joyce, who was part of Modified Toy Orchestra with Brian Duffy. They were doing fascinating things with circuit bending and recycled electronics, and together we started exploring music from a much more environmental perspective.

That project was called Dreams of Buildings, and we made an album with Arve Henriksen, so it was really nice to reconnect with him again on Spectral Wind. Every project became an opportunity to experiment. Rather than trying to make one project fit every style, I’d create different projects for different ideas and different genres I wanted to explore.

Brian:
I remember when we first connected, although I can’t remember exactly how, you sent me links to dozens of different projects. What struck me was not just how prolific you are, but how each project had its own identity and its own conceptual framework.

One thing that really differentiates you from many artists—including myself—is that we tend to work with tools built by software and hardware manufacturers. You build your own instruments.

Could you tell us about some of the technologies you’ve created and where that approach comes from?

Justin:
It really comes from not having equipment as a kid.

Sometimes I didn’t even have batteries. If my parents couldn’t buy them, I’d have to find another way of making things work. I discovered, for example, that if I plugged headphones into the microphone socket, I could actually sing into the headphones and use them as a microphone.

I also experimented with an old VHS recorder. It had little buttons that allowed you to overdub audio, so I’d record static onto videotapes and layer my voice over the top. It was all about working with whatever was available.

There’s a phrase that’s stayed with me since I was young: “Even a carrot can become a torch.” It’s become a bit of a mantra. If there’s a creative problem, there has to be a creative solution.

So if I think, “I want to listen to sunlight,” the next question is, “How do we do that?”

That’s how many of these instruments begin.

I worked with an engineer called Dominic Allen to build a device called the Sun Singer, which converts sunlight into MIDI signals. By changing the lens, you can control the musical output using light itself.

Then we built the Wind Jammer, which is probably my favourite because it’s visually beautiful as well as functional. It responds to wind speed, wind direction and light, translating those changing environmental conditions into shifts in pitch and tonality.

From there it just keeps evolving. We built instruments for water that translate movement into sound. We added sensors to measure environmental conditions, asking questions like, “What happens when the water contains more carbon?” Every project begins with curiosity.

At one point I thought, “I want to listen to the moon.”

So we created a pair of glasses that detect the luminosity of the Moon and the stars. By making tiny movements with my head, I can isolate individual points of light and effectively play them as an instrument. You’re not hearing the darkness of space—you’re hearing the changing light from celestial bodies translated into sound.

Really, it’s all driven by curiosity... and by not having much money. It’s amazing how those two things together can generate creativity.

Brian:
They’re extraordinary instruments. For anyone reading this who wants to explore them further, is there one place where all of these projects are collected?

Justin:
Unfortunately not—they’re scattered everywhere.

Organisation has never been my strongest point. As a child I was simply labelled as naughty, but what I understand now is that I have ADHD and I’m also on the autism spectrum.

Back then those things weren’t recognised. You were just told you were difficult or disruptive rather than being given support or encouraged to think differently.

I think that’s shaped my practice in a lot of ways.

I remember recently recording the planetary alignment using what I call the Moon Tune. I was in St Agnes, Cornwall—one of the darkest places in the UK—with the lunar sensors on while astronomers had their telescopes set up around me.

I was moving my head gently, playing the stars and planets as sounds while scientists explained what we were observing. There wasn’t really an audience—just a handful of people standing together in a field.

I remember thinking, “How did I get here?”

There’s still part of me that struggles to believe I deserve to be doing this.

As artists we’re often conditioned to think what we create isn’t really valuable, particularly when it doesn’t fit neatly into mainstream society. Growing up neurodivergent added another layer to that feeling.

I absolutely love what I do, but there’s still this sense of guilt sometimes—standing in a field listening to the stars while a muntjac deer is calling nearby and scientists are getting excited over what they’re seeing through their telescopes. It can feel surreal.

Brian:
I completely understand that. I think many artists experience something similar. You ask yourself what right you have to spend your time making art when the world feels so uncertain and there are people doing work that seems much more directly useful.

But I’d like to think there is real value in what we do, especially when it becomes collaborative—as this project is.

One thing that strikes me about your work is that so much of it involves translating natural phenomena into sound. Whether it’s moonlight, wind, water or environmental data, you’re creating a form of musical biolocation or biodata sonification.

What are the main drivers for you when it comes to your art?

Justin:
Everything I do is rooted in experiences from childhood—things I’ve had to acknowledge rather than hide from.

One of the biggest influences was that I was completely obsessed with becoming an astronaut. That’s all I ever talked about.

I remember going to the bank with my mum when I was a child. Back then you had to go in and speak to the bank manager. After he’d finished talking with my mum, he asked me, “So, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

I said, “I’m going to be an astronaut.”

He leaned over the desk towards me—I remember feeling incredibly small—and said, “Don’t be so stupid. You’ll never be an astronaut.”

At the time I’d already heard people say things like, “Someone from Burnley will never become an astronaut,” so it wasn’t completely new. Looking back, I almost respected the fact that he didn’t just tell me what I wanted to hear.

But I think that’s one of the reasons I do what I do today. If I couldn’t become an astronaut and explore space physically, I could become one sonically.

Nature is incredibly rich in data—light, wind, movement, electrical currents—and I’m fascinated by how all these different systems interact. Exploring those relationships makes me feel like I’m somewhere between a sonic detective and what I like to call an “Earthnaut.”

Brian:
I love that—an Earthnaut. It’s a brilliant description.

It’s amazing how many of us carry these childhood moments with us. Often it’s the comments people make—sometimes without even thinking—that stay with you for life.

I remember one of my teachers telling the class that none of us should pursue art. Those kinds of off-the-cuff remarks can have a huge impact when you’re young.

Justin:
Exactly.

I remember one of my own art teachers saying to me, “What do you say to someone with an art degree?”

I didn’t know.

He said, “Big Mac and fries, please.”

Those attitudes towards creativity stay with you. They suggest that artists don’t really contribute anything of value—that creativity somehow sits outside society rather than enriching it.

You still encounter that attitude today. Artists have to develop a thick skin because they’re constantly defending the value of curiosity.

For me, curiosity should almost be considered a human right. People should be encouraged to explore, not discouraged from asking questions.

The moment you suppress curiosity, you also create control.

Brian:
Absolutely.

Let’s talk about the track you’ve contributed to the compilation. When I saw Arve Henriksen’s name appear alongside yours, I was genuinely excited. My dad was a huge fan of his work, so I grew up listening to his music. To see you collaborating together felt really special.

How did that collaboration come about?

Justin:
It actually goes back to my time with Dreams of Buildings. We released an album called Drawing the Heart Sounds on a label that eventually became Burning Shed.

I’d always admired Arve Henriksen’s work and hoped we’d have another opportunity to collaborate.

Around that time I was working on a series called Sky Identities. The first release was Cloud Scanner, where I recorded data from clouds and invited musicians to perform alongside those recordings.

The follow-up project continued exploring atmospheric and sky-based data. I’d already recorded enough material for almost two albums when I sent Arve some of the wind recordings I’d been working with.

To my surprise, he sent back a recording he’d improvised over one of the pieces.

I was so excited when I heard it. His playing complemented the wind data perfectly. It felt like a conversation between the technology, the wind and a human performer.

His contribution brought the whole piece together. Hopefully we’ll have the chance to record more together in the future.

Brian:
So your role was creating the sonic landscape from the environmental data. How do you actually approach composing with those systems?

Justin:
Sonification is unpredictable.

Sometimes you get extraordinary results, and sometimes the results are completely chaotic.

One thing I discovered is that recording during a storm isn’t a good idea! The amount of information coming from the wind direction and wind speed simply overwhelms the system.

A gentle coastal breeze works much better.

I’ll usually capture the data as MIDI, let it run for twenty minutes or so, sometimes repeating the process several times, and then gradually begin shaping it.

Sometimes I’ll choose instruments as I’m recording; other times I’ll assign them later in the studio.

I’m also interested in the psychology and cultural history of wind—how humans have related to the sky throughout history.

I’m currently discussing a documentary for BBC Radio 3 that explores people who spend much of their lives in the sky, using recordings generated by wind as part of the soundtrack.

Even though these pieces are data-driven, there’s still a traditional compositional process involved. I’m listening for harmony, balance and what’s musically interesting.

The important thing is not to manipulate the data too much. Once the system is set up, I prefer to let nature express itself.

Brian:
That’s very much my own approach as well. Once you’ve built the system, it’s about stepping back and allowing the natural source to determine how the music unfolds.

Have you spoken to Arve about the wider field of biosonification or projects like Plants Can Dance?

Justin:
Not really.

He’s incredibly busy and seems to be involved in several projects at any one time. He’s constantly exploring new ideas.

I know he’s interested in working more with the wind, but I couldn’t really speak for his thoughts on sonification as a whole.

Brian:
Perhaps we’ll discover those in another conversation.

Justin, this has been a wonderful introduction to your work. I’ve always admired your curiosity and your willingness to keep experimenting. I think we could all benefit from more of that.

And the piece you’ve contributed to Plants Can Dance is absolutely beautiful. Arve’s playing is the icing on the cake, but even without it the composition stands on its own. It’s a real honour to include it on the compilation.

Finally, where can people find out more about your work?

Justin:
At the moment I’d probably point people towards my Glassed Twin Instagram account or Internal Garden website

I know I need to bring everything together in one place, but right now my projects are scattered across lots of different platforms.

Brian:
That’s a great place to start. Justin, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me.

Justin:
Thank you, Brian.

It’s taken around 18 months of work to put together, but delighted to announce that the Plants Can Dance compilation album and magazine is out today!

The best way to support this release is to purchase via Bandcamp:

All physical purchases come with our 7500 word, 28-page ‘zine with artist insights, reflections and points of discussion.

It is also available on all streaming formats and will be shortly available in record stores around the world (please ask your local store to stock it!).

Spotify below or Apple Music

First and foremost this album is about the music: call it ambient, jazz or electronica - the songs were curated to fit together as a pleasurable listening experience.

My intention is also to bring together a growing community of artists that are making music inspired by the natural world, and elevate their individual practises through this release.

All artists approach the topic of ‘plant music’ in their own unique way, so if you want to peel back a layer of how each track was made, the ‘zine is there to dig in (excuse the pun).

So I would encourage you to listen in many different ways, gaining a new appreciation for the natural world in the process.

As someone commented last week after Plants Can Dance at Wildwood Festival - “You’ve helped me to understand the world in a new way”.

Thank you to all artists involved, Sijya for the artwork, Sonic Wax for pressing, SomeoneGreat and Some Pulp for the PR, Submarea Studio for mastering.

Biophilic Music

Dr Helen Anahita Wilson, who’s track ‘Porcupine and the Outdoor Girls (Dr Who Remix) is included in the album sums it up beautifully:

“This track is an example of what I call biophilic music: music that is derived, designed, and imbued with a love (philia) for life (bio).

The fields of architecture and design have already established biophilic practices, bringing natural structures and features into the built environment.

I hope musicians and sound artists will follow, drawing on the natural world to create organic, expressive works grounded in nature and the fascinating world of botany.”

Album Launch Party - 28th June, London

TICKETS

If you are in London, please join us for the compilation launch party at our Hideout at Number 90 residency this Sunday from 4-8pm.

We’ll have an album listening session and Q&A, and we’ll be premiering the ‘Living Ecosystem’ installation that Lamine has been building over the past 12 months. A giant living sonic terrarium, it really is a thing of wonder.

This will be first time it has left his Repot Plant Shop before it heads for a 10 day residency at the Fringe By Sea Festival in North Berwick, Scotland.

On Sunday we’ll be joined by guest speakers from EarthPercent, Brian Eno’s climate charity and a DJ set from Mari Kimura (Gondwana Records).

There will be 3 live plant music sets using the Living Ecosystem from myself, Lamine and Pierre Paslier and we’ll kick off at 4pm with our customary biosonification workshop.

Advance tickets are under £12!

Residency at Kew Gardens

Absolutely delighted to be hosting a Plants Can Dance summer residency at the world renowned Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew over the next two weeks.

Exploring the world of plant and fungi biosonification for the past 5/6 years has taken me to many interesting places around the world, from respected academic institutions to celebrated art institutions, festivals, schools and more... but performing at Kew has to be the pinnacle!

These sessions, which are part-performance, part-workshop and part-lecture open audiences up to nature, letting them 'hear' the natural world differently.

Tickets are part of the Henry Moore After Hours

Plants Can Dance Tour Dates

You can catch Plants Can Dance on tour at the following dates below:

16.5.26 - Plants Can Dance at Caught By The River (Lamine Only)

19.5.26 - Plants Can Dance at Sonica Launch Party, Scotland House, London

30.5.26 - Brian d’Souza Sunflowers live at Watching Trees UK

19.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Garden Of Tomorrow presents Solstice, Cornwall

21.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Wildwood UK

26.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Kew Gardens

27.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Kew Gardens

28.6.26 - PLANTS CAN DANCE ALBUM LAUNCH Hideout, London Brian and Lamine

3.7.26 - Plants Can Dance, Kew Gardens

4.7.26 - Plants Can Dance, Kew Gardens

12.7.26 - Plants Can Dance, Sound & Silence Festival (Lamine Only)

30.7.26-9.7.26 - Plants Can Dance installation and workshops at Fringe By The Sea, Scotland - Brian and Lamine

22.8.26 - Plants Can Dance at We Out Here Festival

26.9.26 - Plants Can Dance, Sonica, Glasgow

30.9.26 - Plants Can Dance, Love Trails, Croatia

3.10.26 - Plants Can Dance, Sonica, Glasgow

Thanks for your support. All paid subscriber receive a digital copy of the album and everything from the A State Of Flo back catalogue. Super Supporters received a copy of the vinyl and zine, plus all future releases in the post!

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Plants Can Dance, a compilation album bringing together some of the leading practitioners in what can perhaps be called a new genre of ‘plant/fungi-inspired music’ will be released on 26th June.

Curated by British sound artist, Brian d’Souza aka Auntie Flo, it features songs by Tarun Nayar aka Modern Biology, OMMA (co-founder of Playtronica), British sound artists Jason Singh, Justin Wiggan and Dr Helen Anahita Wilson and more.

There are many different approaches to creating music inspired-by plants - ‘biosonification’ - and this ground-breaking, first-of-its-kind album brings these together into one body of work for the first time.

The physical release also includes a 7500 word, 28-page magazine, which goes into detail on these approaches, discussion and reflections on the nature/music connection.

To pre-order a copy of the vinyl and ‘zine, visit our shop or click HERE for streaming links:

This week, we released the second single - ‘Growing Roots’ by Modern Biology & Zekarias Musele Thompson.

Meeting the global superstar of plant music

Tarun Nayar aka Modern Biology is the superstar of plant (and mushroom) music, with viral videos and hundred of thousands of followers across social media.

He’s a pioneer in the field, bringing his Mushroom Church events to parks around the globe and developing the new Pocket SCÍON device in partnership with Instruō synths.

Tarun and I share a similar journey into the world of plant and mushroom music, and have both been working in the field for a number of years. We finally crossed paths during the promotional campaign for our Mushroom Music event in London in 2023, which served as the launch of Mycorrhizal Fungi EP, the first release on A State Of Flo records. It was an honour when he agreed to be part of the Plants Can Dance compilation.

His work is all about accessibility - using his music to unlock a sense of wonder and play within his audiences. Originally a biologist before turning to music, he is still very interested in the underlying science and recently ran an experiment which tested whether the Pocket SCÍON could pick up various interactions with a pothos plant and represent them with its sound output. The signs are very promising… and we’ll share more on the results as they become clear.

We caught up at the recent MOTH Festival of Ideas in London where he told me about the experiment and how the collaboration came together for Growing Roots:

For the Plants Can Dance Magazine, Tarun penned an article giving his insight into the experiment. We’ve included it below but would encourage you to support the album for the full context.

Happy Listening

Brian d’Souza - Curator of Plants Can Dance

Earth Month Experiment by Tarun Nayar

My laptop is doing double duty as I write this short piece. In the window beneath my notes app is a custom Python program generating a live plot of the electrical resistance of the pothos plant sitting next to me—mediated by a small, glowing device called the Pocket Scion. Small electrical changes are generating both musical information (which I’m not listening to at the moment—Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians is my soundtrack on this sunny spring morning) and data produced by the changing conductivity of this plant and a number of other factors.

The plot looks like an ever-expanding graph: the y-axis is electrical resistance in megaohms, and the x-axis is time. The line wiggles and wobbles, occasionally making a deep plunge, and very visibly responds to my touch. There is over 150 years of Western scientific data showing that plants are highly responsive electrical beings (just like humans and the rest of life), but actually seeing the changing state of the plant’s electrome is fascinating. I find I can go about most of my day forgetting that plants, mushrooms—this whole living system—is alive. And that this living system has been alive for four billion years (!). Despite cataclysmic climate events, mass extinctions, meteors (and now humans), we’re still here. In perhaps the best example of resilience, courage, and hope, life simply doesn’t give up.

Biochemist and professor Nick Lane posits that proton gradients—electrochemical charge differences across thin mineral barriers—were the engine that produced life, before DNA and before RNA. Around four billion years ago, protocells forming in the porous mineral walls of deep-sea hydrothermal vents developed electrochemical gradients across thin inorganic barriers. These gradients allowed work: they powered chemical reactions that built organic molecules, including the Krebs cycle intermediates that form the building blocks of life. The harnessing of these proton gradients to make ATP is as universally conserved across all life as the genetic code itself. Every living thing on Earth, from a bacterium to this sword fern, maintains an electrical gradient across its membranes. Author Sally Adee puts it succinctly in her book We Are Electric: electricity may be the most ancient thing about life itself.

This simple act of watching and listening to these electrical changes has had a profound effect on my life. You could say it’s been all-consuming. I work with my good friends at Instruō Synthesizers to make machines, I tour as a “plant and mushroom music” artist, and I build installations for galleries and museums. I think about this practice night and day. Why? I think it’s because it reconnects me to wonder. I feel like a child in nature again—exploring, asking questions, making discoveries, and asking new questions. It also connects me to the more-than-human world, an ancient relationship that Indigenous knowledge traditions have cultivated since humans have been human.

“Plant music” has existed since the late 1970s, shortly after the publication of The Secret Life of Plants. What I’m most excited about now is that much of the “woo” around this practice has been left behind. There’s no longer a need to fetishise or exoticise the practice of making music with the living environment—most people are now familiar with the idea. Devices like the Pocket Scion are affordable enough to be widely accessible (and open-source DIY approaches are readily available online thanks to people like Sam Cusumano). These tools allow access to the raw data—not just post-algorithm musical notes and rhythms. Using readily available tools, literally anyone can generate a hypothesis, design an experiment, and test it.

What do these signals mean? Are they biological? Pure physics? Just noise? What’s the most appropriate way to turn them into sound? What ethical considerations should we keep in mind? These are now easily testable questions. On April 15th, 2026, for Earth Month, we’ll be exploring some of them together. Using a simple protocol and easy-to-run Python code, we’ll be asking Pocket Scion users around the world to spend 15 minutes connected to their own pothos plant. We’ll test a simple hypothesis: that Epipremnum aureum produces a detectable electrical resistance shift following physical manipulation. We’re using experimental protocols derived from the scientific literature, but testing with our small $150 device rather than lab equipment worth many multiples of that. I have no idea what we’ll find. But looking, exploring, wondering, and connecting with community is the whole point. This initiative costs nothing beyond a little time.

I can’t wait to see what the broader community does with these tools. The idea of community citizen science–art projects was one of the driving forces behind this device—and others like it. In these charged times, these simple, nature-based community projects can reconnect us with the resilience, courage, and hope of the living world.

Tarun Nayar aka Modern Biology, May 2026

Plants Can Dance Album Launch Party - London 28th June

For those in London, please join us for Plants Can Dance album launch party in East London.

TICKETS

We’ll be unveiling the ‘Living Ecosystem’ by Lamine for the first time. An installation he’s been working on for the past year. It is truly something to behold!

We’ll have guest speakers from EarthPercent, Glitch and a DJ set from Mari Kimura (Gondwana Records).

This week, I’ve been re-reading the book ‘Curation’ by Michael Bhaskar. In it he describes the power and prevalence of the ‘curator’ in the world of excess that we inhabit. We live in a world of abundance - wherever we look, there is more produced that we could ever countenance. In this post-scarcity society, the role of the ‘curator’ as a filter has come to dominate.

Bhaskhar mentions the transition that has taken place from scarcity to abundance and documents how widespread it is: all industries are affected by this, none more so than the arts.

Music is certainly no different, with 100,000s of songs released every day, there is simply no time to listen to them all. And now with AI music, the market is even more flooded.

It wasn’t always like this - Bhaskhar tells the tale of when Beethoven encounter Goethe in ‘The Incident of Teplitz’ around 1812. The two creative titans of the time were very different characters: Goethe was an institutionalised and urbane, Beethoven a wild and maverick thinker.

During their walk together they happened upon some royalty and members of the Austrian imperial court. Goethe’s approach was to move aside, to bow and pay respect - know thy betters.

Beethoven was the opposite, he didn’t see why he must cow to anyone else: he was an artist, a creator and no one with a title and status should be deemed better than him. They should, on the contrary, pay their respect to him!

“Kings and princes can indeed create professors and privy councillors, and bedeck them with titles and orders; but they cannot make great men—spirits that rise above the world's rubbish—these they must not attempt to create; and therefore must these be held in honour.” Beethoven

This story provides an interesting insight into what has become the norm for our society ever since: that Beethoven embodied the emerging Romantic idea that artists were not servants of princes but independent creators whose genius outranked inherited nobility; that creativity has the potential to be the pinnacle of human endeavour and flourishing.

No longer could royals and other aristocrats rely on their lineage or status to be treated as Gods amongst men. Beethoven represented a culture shift that has largely stayed in place ever since.

Before Beethoven, music and the arts had been subservient to institutions such as the church. Whereas his predecessors such as Bach and Mozart wrote their music for the church or their grand patrons, Beethoven wrote his music for himself: a new conception of value and purpose.

“Only Art and Science can raise men to the level of gods” he said.

This set society on a path to hold creativity in highest regard and was widespread, from free marketers such as Adam Smith and entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs across all areas of the arts and beyond.

Can we all be gods?

With the proliferation of tools that give our creative output a platform i.e. social media and the internet, and technical tools that allow us to endlessly create i.e. any music production software that has every instrument, sample and drum loop available at the click of a button we are overwhelmed by options to create . Creativity is everywhere and it is impossible for us to consume all at once.

So, as a result, there are new gods in town. These are the influencers, the curators who provide a crucial filter to tell us what we should focus on.

As I strive to export my creative outputs in the form of my music to a audience that grants me a sustainable future, I’ve realised that one has to identify and find ways to work with these new gods.

This is obviously not entirely new: the traditional way of doing this was to hire a PR firm and get them to get a new release featured in a magazine or online publication. However, the power and reach of these publications is on the wane. In my experience, getting a review no longer seems to have a huge amount of impact when it comes to selling records. Or at least, it’s not so immediate.

Instead, the new gatekeepers of my world are the likes of Luke Una, Josh Mason aka Somewhere Soul, Colleen Cosmo Murphy’s Balearic Breakfast. These individuals carry just as much weight as publications or institutions such as BBC 6 Music, and although the likes of Gilles Peterson and Jamz Supernova are still vastly influential - I would say even they don’t have the same direct or immediate impact on record sales (maybe they do on streaming/social numbers though).

Case in point:

I’ve written about the huge impact that that Luke Una has had on my career in recent years. When he proclaimed Green City as his ‘Track Of The Year’ in 2024 and featured it in one of his instagram videos, sales more than doubled . It went from a small pressing of 300, to eventually selling over 1200 records.

I met Josh Mason aka Somewhere Soul when we both spoke on a panel last year on the topic of ‘AI versus Human Curation’. I’d only heard of the Somewhere Soul page channel in passing but it was fascinating to hear his insight of how a single post from him bigging up a song has led to labels reporting an uplift of 1000s more record sales. He now has a following of close to 1 million people.

I spoke to Josh after and luckily he seemed to be a fan of my music. I got his address and sent him the new Havana Sessions record as soon as it was released. A couple of days ago, he did a post featuring ten of his tracks for the summer and Havana City was on there - number five in his ten images.

The response was immediate, sales started dropping in. In a 24 hour period I sold over 50 records on Bandcamp - and that number is still rising. I double down with a post of my own that then saw the likes of Luke Una bigging it up too in a comment - double win!

To put this in context, I’d sold 50 or so in total in the first 3 weeks of release on Bandcamp and another 50 during our UK tour. 200 have been sent to the record stores for release in 4th June and now I only have 50 left.

Buy one here:

So Josh helped sell a quarter of the records I had listed on Bandcamp due to one post in which my track was nestled as the fifth image in amongst ten others. Wow.

In this world of excess, Somewhere Soul, Luke and others are crucial tastemakers - the yield an inordinate amount of power in an era when the market is flooded and traditional media holds far less influence than before.

So when they do mention you - happy days! I can’t imagine how much music they get sent though, so who will be the filter for the filter?

Long live the new Gods!

The dust has settled: last Saturday we finished a six date UK tour with the Auntie Flo band. Was it worth it? From a purely artistic and emotional perspective, I can say 100% ‘YES’. From a commercial perspective, I can say ‘Perhaps NOT’.

As ever, I thought I’d use this Substack as an opportunity to give readers a BTS insight into the various aspects of touring you perhaps don’t see, which may be useful if you are in a band and are looking to embark on a similar mission.

To set the scene: Over the past three years, I’ve been exploring the best way to perform my music as ‘Auntie Flo’. I come from a DJ background, but DJ gigs in my 40s are proving to be relatively thin on the ground compared to my pretty much full schedule pre-COVID. The late hours and regular travel aren’t necessarily compatible with the stage of life I’m in.

I’m producing so much music nowadays that I really wanted a way to perform it to an audience, so I set myself the goal of figuring out the best way to do this. In the last two years, I’ve tried DJ sets, solo live club shows, playing as a duo, an audio-visual live set, DJing using only my own tunes, and finally performing with a five-piece band when I was asked to play at Jazz Cafe in October last year.

During that gig, something clicked - the place was packed and the gig time and venue meant that many of my friends and family could come out (is that not a huge part of what it’s all about?). From a musical perspective, the band made a lot of sense: I was able to bring in many of the musicians I’d worked with to make the music - Sarathy Korwar, Ziggy Funk, Cyrus Atkinson, Andre Marmot and, more recently, Moncaya to represent the musicality of the songs.

The videos we shared of that gig led on to another: Magnetic Fields Nomads in India. A festival I’d always wanted to play at but never had the opportunity. Now, with the band, they suddenly wanted to book me.

The question was: what next? I’ve been speaking to one of my favourite labels (who will rename nameless for now) about a potential new album release and their first question was - “will you be able to tour it?” The was the exact same question that was asked by Brownswood before they signed Radio Highlife. These labels both felt like they needed me to be delivering a proper live show in order to push any releases - live music is key.

But could we pull it off? After blurting out a “yes”, I had to put our money where our mouth was and hence this UK tour was borne. My agent Jack did a great job of arranging the gigs with decent flat fees (instead of the alternative revenue share option) attached to each.

Tour Logistics

After much jostling with the dates, we ended up with four UK shows back-to-back, meaning the best way was to hire a car and drive between the venues.

After crunching the numbers, I realised we could make everything work with a five-piece band. Moncaya was along for the ride and up for supporting with her solo show, so a double bill was a stronger package for promoters to put on. She’d play solo for 30-mins and then join us as the singer in Auntie Flo later.

We invited Tim Doyle aka Chiminyo along to drum too, completing the line up up.

We got off to a rocky start when the car hire place was outside of the Lime parking zone!!

To keep costs low, we had no tour manager or driver. I had to act as both - hiring the car, organising logistics, doing all the driving and arranging everything with the venues.

Rising petrol prices due to the Iran War didn’t help us at all - Thanks Trump! And I didn’t realise how much it would be for parking at many of these city centre venues…

We booked cheap twin-room hotels with breakfast included. And the venues offered us dinner. This meant that we could drive to the venue, get fed, do the gig, check into the hotel and get breakfast the next day… keeping budgets low and us mostly fed until we arrived at the next venue.

Putting up with band member snoring was one of the downsides of this arrangement but it was a compromise we all had to make!

Of course, we couldn’t resist the odd services stop, esp if a farmshop like the legendary Tebay Services (IYKYK) was the option! Much of the daily budget went on sausage rolls … but was much needed from a morale point of view.

We even found the mighty Greggs OUTLET Mecca in Bristol!! So it goes…

We packed the car with merch, which was mostly vinyl records. I’d made sure to press a new single Havana Sessions in time for the shows - and we were lucky to be able to collect 100 copies direct from the pressing plant on the drive up to the first show in Leeds and most of those sold.

With the costs of everything, I personally didn’t make much from the fees but we did sell a bunch of merch… I joked that this tour was really just a mobile car boot sale.

Hiring a merch seller (or roping in friends to help) at the gigs was crucial. I still had to jump on and help pre and post gig, but meeting happy punters after the show was a nice little buzz and confirmation of a job well done.

So what about the gigs?

In my twenty years of doing this, these were some of the best shows I’ve ever been involved with. Every one was a memorable experience and every one exceeded my expectations. The band really gelled together and each gig we did we became tighter as a group. This is important to bare in mind!!!

1. We had FUN. We all got on really well: such a crucial thing when you are stuck in a car with someone for five days back-to-back. Banter levels were high and everyone in the band enjoyed being part of it. Not just a paid gig, it gave each member something more than that. And it needed to with the fees everyone took in order to make it all work. It can’t all be about the money…

2. The gigs were BUSY. We’re not talking sold out shows at every venue, but each being busier than expected. The feedback we had was immense - when individuals come up and say ‘that was the best gig I’ve been to in a long time’ you always have to take it with a pinch of salt, but when that happens dozens of times, it starts to give you a good feeling. So thank you to everyone who came to see us!

3. Closing with a sold out Ronnie Scott’s we managed to get everyone dancing, which rarely happens in that venue. Various staff members told us they’ve ‘never seen an energy like that in the room or a response from the crowd like that’… It felt like one for the memory banks…

4. Big thanks to all the independent venues who stick their necks out to book bands like us. The economics of running a small venue is much the same as running a small band. By working together we can scrap by but it’s truly a team effort.

The videos we shared are a testament to that (more to come!).

Financial Breakdown

We managed to add a sixth show last week as a last-minute replacement for Balimaya Project at the House Of Koko members club. This proved to be a great warm up for Ronnie Scott’s and a brilliant gig in its own right.

Financially, this last minute well paid gig helped the tour break even and gave me a little fee to take home. With merch included, I can say it was just about financially worthwhile - but just remember: breaking even was the mission and we did it!

Tour Fees: £8475 (after booking agent fees)

Musician Fees: £5200

Travel Costs: £1094.35 (petrol/car hire)

Accommodation Costs: £690.12 (sometimes this was covered by the venue)

Instagram ads: £300

Food/Misc/Parking: £708.36

PROFIT/ BRIAN TAKE HOME: +£382.17

MERCH SALES: +£1131.68 (although most of that isn’t profit, the margin on vinyl records is small, and 10% goes to Earth Percent).

As you can see, the tour broke even! And we all walked away with a fee. Is that success? I’m pretty sure that all venues broke even (perhaps with the exceptions of Leeds and Manchester :( ). So do the economics work? Can the independent music sector run on these numbers?

I’m reminded of Kate Nash’s insight into the loses (£26,000!) of her touring and that helps put things into perspective.

For me - we did six dates, and it probably took around ten days of time. The hard reality is that I walk away with a payment of £38.12 per day. Obviously massively under minimum wage!

And the brutal reality is for the next time, we’ll definitely need a tour manager/driver. Doing everything myself was tough. It took me four days to recover!

We didn’t have a photographer - much needed in this social media age. We got lucky with some of the audience footage and venues hiring their own, but next time it would be amazing to document the trip.

I’m not complaining though - this tour was always meant be a test: to draw a line in the sand. It was an experiment to ask -

• Could ‘Auntie Flo’ be a band?

• Could we draw a crowd in cities outside of London (and my home town of Glasgow)?

• Has all the music that I’ve been releasing on A State Of Flo as a 100% independent artist had any meaningful reach?

• Has the relentless social media posts been worth it?

My answer is a resounding ‘YES’ but with much still work to be done. I’m excited for what happens next.

To everyone who came to see us: Thank you! We’re all in this together.

Hopefully this has been useful if you are in a band and are looking to tour. Let me know your experiences!

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In case you missed it, we are releasing the first Plants Can Dance album bringing together a new global community of artists who are making music in direct collaboration with the natural world.

It will be released on 26th June on A State of Flo, and the vinyl package comes with a 28-page mini-book featuring articles and insight from all artists, some academics and technologists who have helped pioneer this new movement.

These include Modern Biology, Dr Helen Anahita Wilson, OMMA (founder of Playtronica), Justin Wiggan in collaboration with Norwegian Jazz legend Arve Henriksen, Dr Augustine Leudar and more.

Pre-order and listen to the first single by Jason Singh here:

And find it on your favourite streaming sites here

Album Launch Party 28th June

I’m excited to share news of the album launch party, taking place at our residency in London, at Hideout Hackney Wick 28th June, 4-8pm.

LAUNCH PARTY 28th JUNE TICKETS:

RA - https://ra.co/events/2443545

Dice - https://link.dice.fm/E64115abb9c1

These Sunday afternoon events have been really fun, and we’d love for you to come down and help us celebrate the launch of the album. Lamine and I will be performing talking through the album, and we’ll have a listening playback too. We’ll start with our customary biosonification workshop where you can try making your own music using some of the readily available devices on the market.

It’ll look something like this - Lamine’s ‘living wall installation’ at his Repot Plant Shop.

Plants Can Dance Tour Dates

Lamine and I are also excited to be taking Plants Can Dance on the road this summer, with a combination of performances, larger scale installations and workshops - including a four date residency at Kew Gardens and a massive showcase at Fringe By The Sea in Scotland.

*Dates are Brian only unless stated

16.5.26 - Plants Can Dance at Caught By The River (Lamine Only)

19.5.26 - Plants Can Dance at Sonica Launch Party, Scotland House, London

30.5.26 - Brian d’Souza Sunflowers live at Watching Trees UK

19.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Garden Of Tomorrow presents Solstice, Cornwall

21.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Wildwood UK

26.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Kew Gardens

27.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Kew Gardens

28.6.26 - PLANTS CAN DANCE ALBUM LAUNCH Hideout, London Brian and Lamine

3.7.26 - Plants Can Dance, Kew Gardens

4.7.26 - Plants Can Dance, Kew Gardens

30.7.26-9.7.26 - Plants Can Dance installation and workshops at Fringe By The Sea, Scotland - Brian and Lamine

22.8.26 - Plants Can Dance at We Out Here Festival (TBC)

26.9.26 - Plants Can Dance, Sonica, Glasgow

30.9.26 - Plants Can Dance, Love Trails, Croatia

Plants Can Dance ‘Zine

As I mentioned, I’ve compiled a 28-page, 7500+ word ‘zine to accompany the release. It features insight from all artists features into their varying creative processes, and also articles on wider topics - ‘ways of listening’, ‘more-than-human' perspectives’ and ‘words of caution’ (on some of the controversy around this music).

The print copies have just arrived so keen to share a few images to get you excited! We’ll share some of the articles on this Substack in due course - a lot to get your teeth stuck into and hopefully start a few conversations.

Much love to Sijya for the design and artwork on this release.

Paid subscribers will get a digital copy of the album and print copy of the zine as part of your subscription. Super supporters will get a copy of the vinyl sent to your home address as soon as we have then and pre-official release.

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If you know anyone who is into music and nature - please share this article!

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Over a year in the making, we're excited to share the first Plants Can Dance Compilation: a collection of songs inspired by the wonder of plants by some of the leading practitioners from all around the world.

»»STREAMING AND DOWNLOAD PRESAVE LINKS««

I’ve been exploring ways in which to collaborate with nature, living organisms and the natural world in my music practise over the past six or seven years - a process accelerated by the COVID lockdown and solidified over several artistic commissions: Mushroom Music for the mycelium pavilion at Glastonbury, Sonifying a show garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, creating a Symphony of Herbs for Dandelion (part of the UK Governments ‘Unboxed’ festival of ideas) and many more.

I’ve presented this work and the accompanying themes via workshops in schools; talks at art institutions such as The Tate Modern, V&A, Design Museum, National Trust; sessions for charities; installations for brands; and performances at festivals - in the UK, Europe, Africa and India.

These projects culminated in the release of ‘Mycorrhizal Fungi’, a multi-sensory vinyl record in collaboration with artist Jananicole, the first release on A State Of Flo records in 2024 and subsequently lead to the launch of our event series Plants Can Dance (and Mushroom’s ‘Sing’) in 2025.

Over these years, I’ve met many musicians, scientists, environmentalists, botanists and experimental artists who share a similar passion - to explore the wonder of nature through the medium of their musical and artistic practise.

This compilation pulls together many of these connections and features pioneers of perhaps what can now be called a burgeoning new musical genre: ‘plant and mushroom music’.

Those featured include: Tarun Nayer aka Modern Biology, Jason Singh, Olga Maximova aka OMMA (co-founder of Playtronica), Dr Helen Anahita Wilson, Justin Wiggan and more. Many tracks are collaborations with celebrated musicians: legendary Norwegian Jazz star Arve Henriksen, cellist Liz Hanks, saxophonist Zekarias Musele Thompson and more.

Accompanying the lush white-vinyl package is a 28-page magazine or mini-book if you like, with articles from all the artists involved as well as insight into related topics - 'More-Than-Human Perspectives', 'Ways Of Listening', 'Technical Approaches', insights from Jason Lim, founder of Instruo modular synths (the company behind the Scion and Pocket Scion devices) and a ‘Note of Caution’ from Dr Augustine Leudar.

What I’ve been most excited to witness is the conversations that are started through this work. These are equally important as the music itself as they demonstrate the wonder and intrigue that these artistic approaches spark. Nature is living and breathing and endlessly-fascinating - can music help us tune more deeply?

We’ve created a mini-book running to 7500+ words covering most of the topics that tend to get raised.

Call it ambient, jazz, electronica or simply plant music, this is a compilation like no other and I’m very excited for you to hear it. Aside from the wider themes, I guarantee the music stands up by itself: it is jaw-droppingly beautiful stuff and I thank all the artists involved for bringing their A-game.

The first single by Jason Singh ‘Tsubaki’ is now up on all streaming platforms and the compilation and ‘zine are available to pre-order. PREORDER HERE

New Plants Can Dance Instagram Page

Follow the journey on our new Plants Can Dance instagram page

I resisted this for so long, but with so much activity to come and a lot going on with my other Auntie Flo projects it makes sense…

Supporters of A State Of Flo will receive the full compilation and ‘zine in the next week, a month ahead of its release, as well as every release on the label.

Super Supporters will receive the vinyl record + zine and a package of previous vinyl releases (if stock is available).

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Ten years ago, I was invited to Havana, Cuba to perform at the first ever Havana World Music Festival. Just take a moment to pause and reflect on what that means - a festival of bands from all around the world, in Cuba, a place which has spent its recent history under a closed Castro regime: pushing back against the dominance of the capitalistic systems from countries such as the US and UK.

Around that time, Cuba began to open itself up to the West and the Havana World Music festival was one of the examples of this, creating an interesting dichotomy. As I found out at the time, culture-led soft power was a primary tool that many countries were keen to exploit, not least the United Kingdom, with the British Council part-funding out trip. This was seen as an opportunity by Western governments to demonstrate superiority, through our cultural exports.

Should I have taken the opportunity to visit, knowing I would be small pawn in this culture-war, or should I visit knowing that it would be an experience of a lifetime, a chance to learn, meet and potentially collaborate?

I obviously chose the latter and it turned out to be a career highlight, despite some challenges.

Leaving politics aside, the musical culture of Cuba is so engrained in its society, and totally infectious from the minute we touched down.

We met so many fascinating people and talented musicians, playing two amazing gigs: firstly performing to 10,000+ at a baseball field overlooking the Malecon and the then being invited to play to perhaps an even bigger street party the next day in new Havana. A weekly free street party, with no alcohol but up to 8,000 very up-for-it young Cubans.

It was fascinating to learn how the live music industry works in Cuba: there are three main departments for broad genres -I believe roughly split between more traditional sounds such as Rhumba, Salsa etc, more Pop and then an Electronic/EDM category.

We were essentially housed within the latter category and had to meet various government departments who asked us a range of questions about our music, our intentions etc, right down to ‘what BPM’s we typically play’. Whatever, we said, we must have passed the test as we became the first non-Cuban band to play at the free street party.

Both gigs were incredible. With the slight downside of the array of Union Jacks that the British council spread around some of the crowd in the middle of our set without telling us!

I’ve had to wrestle with being a political weapon ever since…

The upside was that during these shows, we started putting the word out that we’d have some studio time and any budding musicians were welcome to come and jam with us. We turned up and were met with a line round the block!

During these sessions we recorded a host of tracks that have made it onto various albums - So In Love from Theory Of Flo, Nobody Said It Would Be Easy and Havana Rhythm Dance from Radio Highlife, and now the Havana Sessions, which I’m releasing on A State of Flo records today.

Havana City takes elements of Havana Rhythm Dance, adds some string arrangements, borrowed drums from Green City (hence the name) and Freedom of Birds, and dubs out the whole thing giving everything space to breathe. As per my love of the long song - this is a track to immerse yourself in - with keys, trumpet, talking drum, arp and Andrew Ashong’s triumphant vocals bringing a joyous summer vibe.

I was thinking about the absolute classic by Nuyorican Soul - ‘I am The Black Gold Of the Sun’. Does it measure up to that? I’ll leave it to you to decide!

Die Bailando is a track that holds a special place for me. After day 1 in the studio in Cuba, I chopped up some of the brass recordings and made a six minute loop. I then recorded this young vocalist Eric Alejandro who can up with the lyrics - ‘When I die… I’m going die dancing…’. For the original track, we did two takes, both equally as good so I simply doubled the track length and made this super long minimal electro-rhumba groove - think Ricardo Villalobos… It was original released as our first Highlife World Series record.

Eric’s voice is so unique and powerful, I new he had the potential to be big, and it’s been interesting to see his pathway since that session - now performing to huge audiences around the globe as Cimafunk. He’s even been nominated for a Grammy.

For this 2026 version, I went back to the studio and recorded new guitar parts with Ziggy and drums from Jose Joyette (of Ibibio Sound Machine), creating a new latin-groover with Erics vocals as centre stage.

The final track on the EP is Mother Theresa - also released on the Highlife World Series but it was never pressed to vinyl. The track is basically made up of off-cuts from the Havana sessions as we needed a b-side to the digital release. I added some beats and crow-barred in various bits and bobs from the recordings (which some folk like to point out are in differing keys!!).

I didn’t think much of it at the time, but this track has become one of my most played tracks on Spotify - approaching 2 million plays! So many people I randomly meet tell me how much that track means to them - that they play it at every after party, or on repeat throughout the day… Crazy, I made it in an afternoon without much thought - maybe a creative lesson there.

Go buy Havana Sessions today

Paid supporters get it as part of your subscription. Super supporters get the Vinyl! As well as every other release on the label..

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Auntie Flo Full Band UK Tour: TICKETS

I’m equal parts nervous and excited - I’ve formed a band and going on a proper tour for the first time since 2018: NEXT WEEK!!. There are five of us travelling, I’ve hired a 6-seater car and we’re going to have some fun.

My main question: is it possible to mobilise the 2500+ readers on this Substack, my 13.5k followers on Instagram, 20k on Facebook, 6.3k on Bandcamp (most of whom have purchased a record of mine), and the 21k followers and 51k monthly listeners on Spotify into anything that resembles a real life audience who want to come and check out the live show?

I say these numbers not as a brag but as a genuine question - what is real anymore? You read stories of TikTok/Spotify-famous artists with numbers vastly greater than mine performing to empty stadiums and arenas, as their huge online streaming numbers struggle to translate into tickets sold in the real world.

So much of the music world is now totally siloed.

I’m therefore all too aware that a stream, like, or passive listen, doesn’t make an active fan.

My second question is: can you help?

I would dearly love to make these shows a success and would be delighted to welcome you to attend. If you are in the vicinity of Leeds, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh or know anyone who is - please join us. London at Ronnie’s is sold out but there will be tickets on the door.

What I can promise you: the rehearsals have been sounding incredible. After two killer headline live gigs at London’s Jazz Cafe and Magnetic Fields Nomads Festival in India in the past few months, I guarantee that the band is the best way to experience ‘Auntie Flo’.

In the past two years, I’ve experimented with solo live, a duo, an Audio Visual set, and a DJ+FX hybrid playing only my own productions but realistically, the full band is the ultimate way of performing ‘live’.

Although that means maximal effort, much greater expense and logistical challenges for me, it also means a much better show for you, with an array of talented musicians playing real instruments, bringing maximum energy and virtuoso musicianship.

In the age of AI, pre-recorded DJ sets, electronic/live hybrids where a musician can hide behind technology, we’re taking a risk. Will it all be plain sailing?

Perhaps not: but surely that’s the point - it will be raw and it will be joyous.

Why be nervous? With the independent live music scene increasingly under threat, and smaller venues shutting down, I hope people come out to support. Playing in London or Scotland I can safely rely on bringing a good crew of friends to come out, but my contacts are a bit more sparse in Bristol, Leeds and Manchester.

We’ve got so much new music to play and very excited to share news of it in months to come. We’ll be road testing some of these tracks as well as giving fresh voice to some recent favourites and older ones too.

Less samples, more live vocals: Moncaya has been working closely on her vocal reinterpretations of some of my older songs and I’m excited to be working with Cyrus and Ziggy again, who have now got super tight with the material. Bringing the amazingly talented Tim Doyle aka Chiminyo will bring a load of energy too.

Come down early to check Moncaya on support duties too, with her beautiful solo show.

Havana Sessions - special tour vinyl

As a special thank you, I’ll also be doing a brand new pressing of some music I made in Havana, Cuba, made over ten years ago. Tracks like Mother Theresa, which has close to 2 million Spotify plays but has never been pressed onto vinyl will now make itself onto wax for the first time. I’ve done a fresh version of Havana Rhythm Dance feat Andrew Ashong, called Havana City. And a new latin interpretation of Die Bailando featuring Eric Alejandro aka Grammy-nominated Cimafunk.

So if you are one of the many people who come up to me and tell me how much that track means to you, look out for the vinyl pressed specially for these shows. More new on this release soon!

30th April - Leeds, Howard Assembly Rooms

w/ Moncaya

1st May - Bristol, Strange Brew

w/ Moncaya

2nd May - Manchester, Band On The Wall

w/ Bom Nation, Cervo (Banana Hill)

3rd May - Edinburgh, The Pitt

w/ Moncaya, Eclair Fifi, Lord of the Isles, Box Energy

16th May - London, Ronnie Scott’s Late Show SOLD OUT (but with some tickets on the door)

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Plants Can Dance - 19th April

TICKETS

Ahead of Plants Can Dance this Sunday, I spoke to one of our guest speakers, climate & culture ambassador Sophia Shnapp on her recent TEDx talk in Ibiza, in which presented the innovative ways in which she has been pioneering to ensure nature is now being credited within the music industry.

Listen here:

Sophia will be delivering a version of her TEDx talk this Sunday 19th April at Plants Can Dance (tickets here) and also at a dinner we are hosting at the new Six Senses Place on the 23rd of April (contact me if you’d like to come along to that).

We chatted about the Glasgow music scene, how she met and worked with Brian Eno and others during the early stages of the EarthPercent charity, the Sounds Right Initiative where nature can be credited and remunerated as an ‘artist’, our collaboration at the UN Oceans conference last year where we created a makeshift hydrophone by placing a microphone in a condom! and my work with Sophia to create a variety of sounds for the talk - ranging from the most ugly, dissonant sound imaginable to the most pleasant…

Here’s an example of the most out of tune sound we made:

And here’s the most in tune:

What do you think?

As you may know, A State Of Flo support Earth Percent - my commitment is to give 10% of all revenue from this Substack and from the label to the charity. If you’d like to support - subscribe now! You’ll receive all releases on the label, some vinyl and a zine - all for just £5.

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Watch the full unedited version of my chat with Sophia here to get a taste for whats in store on Sunday here:

We’ll also be joined by biodesigner Paul JJ Treichl who’ll be giving a talk entitled ‘Plants Can Teach (and Mushrooms Guide)’ - which means he’s already off to a good start!

We’ll kick off with a biosonification workshop at 4pm where you can play around with some of the devices available on the market to make music from the electrical impulses found from living organisms. The talks will begin at around 530pm and we’ll also have a chance to listen to modular synth soundscapes created by myself and Lamine, where we take the biodata from the beautiful array of plants from his Repot plant shop and turn that into music. Hideout do great Sunday roasts by the canal and the event is really relaxed so you can pop in an geek out and then go chill in the bar to digest!

I’m sorry if you tried to buy tickets on DICE, the link has not been working. Instead, please use RA here and there will be tickets on the door. Please join us from 4pm - 8pm!

Auntie Flo UK TOUR

In case you missed it, my band are going on tour in a couple of weeks. It would be incredible if you can join us!

ALL TICKETS

London is sold out but I’m told there will be tickets on the door, so get down early.

If you know anyone in Leeds, Bristol, Manchester or Edinburgh - help us spread the word!!

Here’s a sneak peek of our rehearsals:

2026 Dates:

Here’s a few DJ/Live/Plants Can Dance dates for your diary. Would be lovely to see you on the road :)

More announced soon. Contact me if you’d like to book.

19.4.26 - Plants Can Dance, Hideout, London

23.4.26 - Plants Can Dance, Six Senses, London

30.4.26 - Auntie Flo Live Band, Leeds

1.5.26 - Auntie Flo Live Band, Bristol

2.5.26 - Auntie Flo Live Band, Manchester

3.5.26 - Auntie Flo Live Band, Edinburgh

16.5.26 - Auntie Flo Live Band, Ronnie Scott’s, London

19.5.26 - Plants Can Dance, Cryptic Launch Scotland House

23.5.26 - Auntie Flo DJ, Grow Hackney, London

30.5.26 - Brian d’Souza live at Watching Trees UK

19.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Solstice, Cornwall

20.6.26 - Auntie Flo DJ, Wildwood UK

21.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Wildwood UK

26.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Kew Gardens

27.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Kew Gardens

28.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Hideout, London

3.7.26 - Plants Can Dance, Kew Gardens

4.7.26 - Plants Can Dance, Kew Gardens

5.7.26 - Kelburn TBA

11.7.26 - Tropical Pressure, Cornwall

1.8.26 - Auntie Flo Live Band TBA

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I was recently in Goa, India, for my second Sultry Mist Festival. I love it there, not only does it allow me to visit a place that I have close family connections to (my auntie, the OG 'Auntie Flo aka Florinda Dantas, lived near where the festival takes place), but the programming, people, venues all make it one of the most unique festival experiences I’ve ever had.

Perhaps this is because it’s run and curated by artists, not primarily musicians, on a shoe string budget and is essentially a 'family affair’ for only 300 people, it feels different and special. Every act is unique in their own way, and every slot on the schedule varies wildly: one minute you have a crazy cabaret show, the next a punk band, the next an electronic act DJing with a PlayStation controller, the next a more traditional Indian classical raga concert, the next New York-based Disco (courtesy of Tom Of England) playing with his daughter with stunning stage design and light show.

They claim it is a ‘festival for all the senses’ and it is certainly that. My own role this year was to provide a biosonification soundtrack to their Sunday lunch, under the name of ‘Food Can Dance’.

The highlight of the festival was undoubtedly being introduced to the music of DJ Khabir, coming out of West Bengal (and as I subsequently discovered sitting adjacent to its burgeoning ‘Dek Bass’ scene). I was entirely unfamiliar with his work, and by way of introduction the festival showed a short film that was made by Rana Ghose, an old contact of mine. Rana and I had connected over ten years ago as he helped facilitate bringing Charanjit Singh over to Europe, where we hosted him at two parties in London and Glasgow.

Rana’s film, ‘Bass Boss’, introduces us to the unique sonic experimentations of Khobir, in which his mission is to make bass music with such destructive power that it actually hurts you. And by bass music, I mean music that only contains bass. It may have a smattering of raw percussive elements from time to time, the odd siren and vocal ‘DJ Khabir’ sample, but 99% of it is literally bass. And by ‘bass’, I mean BASS.

His set blew me away. Set up incredibly well by the film, which showed Khabir’s attempts to increase the intensity of the bass sound he could produce. He does this by working with local electricians to build soundsystems (see the picture above) with humungous bass bins and playback devices in which everything is rooted towards producing an overwhelming, destructive bass sound.

It was the purest distillation of the ‘hardcore continuum’ that I’d heard, no fucking around, just straight low end, relentless in its ability to punish you from start to finish. But, it was created with no knowledge of this Western musical canon - similar to Charanjit Singh ‘inventing’ acid house, this music was borne out of a local culture in isolation, without western influence.

Aided by Khabir’s menacingly serious demeanour on stage and having heard repeatedly on the film his intention to actually hurt anyone listening, and then witnessing kids literally passing out and being carried away from the dancefloor in the film, this was one of the most extreme musical experiences I’ve ever come across.

I’d place it up there with the late Maryanne Amarcher’s ‘third ear’ octagonal sound rooms, which I heard 20 odd years ago - not so much due to the bass, but the sheer loudness and intensity of that sound experience has stayed with me all this time.

Entering the dancefloor, you were hit with this wall of sound. Luckily I’d brought ear protection, as otherwise it would have been too much for my ear drums, but with protection on, what you heard was through the body. Relentless bass frequencies, trapping you within huge sine waves and primitive low frequency oscillations. After around ten minutes I started to discombobulate, after 15 I was slightly queasy, after 20 I had to leave the room and take a break only to be enticed back for more. There was practically no let up - the bass didn’t stop, there were no drops, breaks, build ups - just pure bass.

With caution, I’d encourage the more musical adventurous to seek out DJ Khabir and certainly the Bass Boss film, if you see it at a film festival or if it ever gets a general release.

Pic: Khabir, Rana and myself at the after party.

The following is taken from an interview with Rana, published on Resident Advisor last year:

"DJ Khabir extended the drop to an absurd conclusion," Ghose said. "He wasn't aware of any parallels with car stereo or bass subcultures abroad–it was entirely his own invention." Ghose compares Khabir’s performances to "using a divining rod to locate the breaking point of the human psyche through low-end frequencies."

Reflecting on the social and historical resonance of the Dek Bass movement, he added: "I don't think the state of West Bengal ever truly recovered psychologically from the devastation of the 1943 famine that Churchill oversaw, or the chronic economic malaise and unspoken trauma the region seems to present. In my experience, bass frequencies at that scale become a narcotic that forces you to exist in that exact moment alone. That past simply cannot exist. And maybe that's the point."

All this reminded me to re-visit the book ‘Sonic Warfare’ by Steve Goodman aka Kode9 (academic and founder of Hyperdub records). Its described as

‘An exploration of the production, transmission, and mutation of affective tonality—when sound helps produce a bad vibe.’

He draws parallels from the use of sound within warfare to the various bass soundsystem cultures across the globe, to urban destinations in which ‘sound contributes to an immersive atmosphere or ambience of fear and dread’. When politicised, sound can be a weapon - used for crowd control, torture and within warfare itself.

He details how infrasound, or sub-20 Hz bass frequencies that are inaudible to the human ear, are capable of inducing bodily harm. Goodman talks about the vibratory “envelope of death,” where they “allegedly suffered sustained internal spasms as their organs hit critical resonance frequencies.” Ouch!

Infrasound devices generally require huge, heavy rigs to produce such powerful waves, which limit their practicality - and I’m not sure if DJ Khabir and other soundsystem architects from West Bengal to Jamaica have got there yet, but they intuitively understand the power they are playing with… which makes this music all the more dangerous, and exciting.

Tread with caution…

Plants Can Dance is back at our residential home, Hideout, in Hackney Wick, East London - 19th April.

We had a great one last month with the launch of Sunflowers (less than ten copies left if you’d like to grab one), with special guests Li Yilei and Luca. The event was curated as more of a concert/traditional gig than previous events, with no workshop and minimal talking with a focus on deep listening and that format worked well. Thanks to everyone who came and respected the environment we created :)

For our next event, we flip it back to the previous format, meaning it will be much more interactive! We’ll begin with a biosonification workshop, hosted by myself and Lamine from Repot (who’s back from his travels after missing the last one). We’ll fill the space with plants from his Repot plant shop and plug a range of biosonification devices into them to hear what sounds can be made. A biophilliacs wet dream…

We’ve partnered with Instruo and Modern Biology for this, so have plenty of Pocket Scions for you to play with.

We’ve also invited back Pierre Paslier (who runs the amazing non-plastic seaweed packaging business NotPla) who’ll be demonstrating his biosonification tape-loop experiments with his reel-to-reel machine and other experimental approaches to making music from nature.

We’ll then have two guest speakers - Sophia Shnapp, Music and sustainability advocate, who works with EarthPercent to highlight how the creative sector can play a meaningful role in driving environmental action and long-term change. Sophia has just delivered a TEDx talk in their Ibiza Summit, talking about the connection between Nature and Music and we’ll have an opportunity to hear that TED talk and then discuss it…

NATURE is an artist. And millions are already listening.

In a world searching for new ways to live in balance, music is quietly leading a shift, helping to retune how we value the living planet, and offering a blueprint for systems rooted in harmony.

In her recent TEDx talk, Sophia Shnapp shares a journey from global climate institutions to the cultural frontier: where music, storytelling, and collective experience are shaping a new relationship between people and planet.

At the heart of the talk:

@soundsright.earth — an initiative recognising Nature as an artist, with royalties flowing back to protect and restore ecosystems, developed with @museumfortheun

@earthpercent — founded by Brian Eno, mobilising the music industry for climate action

When culture shifts, policy follows.

A State Of Flo has been supporting Earth Percent since we started, so it’s fantastic to hear from Sophia and share the work it has been doing.

Our second guest speaker is Paul JJ Treichl is an Austrian designer, architect, and artist who works with living organisms. He explores the intersection between the built and natural environments and the living organisms that comprise them. His research and work touch on speculative futures and multi-species design through the lenses of education. His recent paper "The biota as pedagogy" proposes an approach to the education system that places local living organisms, ecosystems, and ecological relationships at the core of curriculum, rather than treating them as separate subjects.

Paul recently launched Feral Worlding a publication platform for those working across and beyond biodesign - practitioners, academics, independent researchers, students, artists, DIY experimenters, and the curious. A biannual, print-only magazine which engages in the critical conversations of those who are shaping the future of living systems with care, ethics, and creativity. FW was created to bridge the fragmented, often disconnected worlds of academic research, grassroots experimentation, speculative design, and collective inquiry.

We’ll be hearing from Paul about all these projects and will have some copies of Feral Worlding for you to check out too.

In amongst all that, we’ll also have time to listen to plant music from Lamine and my duel Modular Synth and Instruo Scion set ups - a perfect way to detach and wind down the weekend!

Rough timings

4pm-530pm - Biosonification Workshops with Brian, Lamine and Pierre

530-615pm - Paul JJ Treichl / Feral Worlding

645-730pm - Sophia Shnapp (TEDx talk + Q&A)

730pm - close Brian d’Souza and Lamine’s Plants Can Dance

Tickets on sale next week :)

Support A State Of Flo!

Supporters of A State Of Flo can listen back to the recording from the last Plants Can Dance 22nd Feb - the link is after the paywall below. Your support is most welcome - 10% goes to EarthPercent and the rest goes to supporting the release of new music on this platform. Supporters receive all music released on the label as a download, exclusive mixes and other content, some free vinyl and an Ambient Flo ‘zine.

Read more

Poster design by Chris Chadwell

We’re taking the band on tour!

Something clicked when playing with the band at the Jazz Cafe last year, I realised that presenting the music I make with the band is the best way of performing my 10 years plus of recorded music live. I’ve dabbled with many different formats over the years, from playing as a duo, to AV experiments, so solo live but none have realised my artistic vision as well as playing with a full live band.

In many ways, this makes sense - I work with a lot of musicians to put the music together, recording live sessions instead of using samples or cutting corners by being too ‘in the box’. I travel the world in order to do this, seeking interesting collaborations with artists using traditional instruments to create novel sounds and finding unique way to fuse the old and the new - rooted in a global story-telling narrative.

In this way, I can combine my core beliefs - that music has the power to bring us all closer together, and that by doing so language, cultural, political and other barriers that often prohibit our outlook in this regard can be quashed.

This theory was put to the test in India last month, where the band played at Nomads in Rajasthan, the new incarnation of the renowned Magnetic Fields Festival. We headlined the main stage of the Saturday night, and although we had a completely different line up of musicians to the Jazz Cafe the response was similar.

So I hope you can join us on the UK tour we’ve just announced, five dates in April and May and the tickets have just gone on sale.
TICKET LINKS

30th April - Leeds, Howard Assembly Rooms

w/ Moncaya

1st May - Bristol, Strange Brew

w/ Moncaya

2nd May - Manchester, Band On The Wall

w/ Bom Nation, Cervo (Banana Hill)

3rd May - Edinburgh, The Pitt

w/ Moncaya, Eclair Fifi, Lord of the Isles, Box Energy

16th May - London, Ronnie Scott’s Late Show

(My Birthday!)

The Line Up

I’m excited to be working with Moncaya who will also be providing her own live support at three of the shows. Coming out of Mexico, the singer-songwriter has an incredible voice and we’ve been working on some new tracks in my London studio recently. As well as support, she’ll be on vocal duties for the band.

Ziggy Funk (Guitar) and Cyrus Atkinson (Keys) will also be back after being part of various Auntie Flo line ups over the past few years. You’ll know Ziggy from his ecstatic guitar solo on Green City:

The line up will be completed by Chiminyo on drums. Resident at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s in London, he is a respected drummer and also experimentalist using drums as key triggers for his solo live work -

The Challenge

Let’s be realistic, touring in 2026 is hard. Making the maths on this tour work, bringing five people to five cities is an exercise of risk, faith and collective endeavour by everyone involved.

We’ll hire a big car and drive to the gigs ourselves, but there will be no tour bus so we’ll be hiring AirBnbs and calling in some favours. Multiply everything by five - meals, drinks etc.. let’s see how things come out in the wash. I’m certainly hoping not to lose £26,000 like Kate Nash (and the way this tour is being budgeted ensures this won’t be the case).

I’ve written about some of these challenges before:

Grassroots venues are still closing, although the steep decline where over 100 venues shut in 2023, the numbers were 30 between 2024 and 2025. However, over half are reporting making zero profits, so how sustainable the industry is remains to be seen.

What I’m certain of, is the collective experience of live music is something that will never die and I’m looking forward to putting this theory to the test during this tour.

I’m also excited to be touring with these fantastic musicians and connecting with you all at the gigs - IT WILL BE JOYOUS!

Spread The Word

Please help us spread the word if you are reading this and know anyone in the cities we are going to!

Sharing organically means we beat the social media algorithms that create this needless barrier and constant place of frustration.

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OTHER DATES:

Here are some other dates for your diary, including the next Plants Can Dance 19th April, which we’ll announce next week. More TBA.

14.3.26 - Auntie Flo DJ at Casa Capitao, Lisbon, Portugal

28.3.26 - Auntie Flo DJ at Kater Berlin, Germany

2.4.26 - Plants Can Dance, Six Senses, London

19.4.26 - Plants Can Dance, Hideout, London

30.4.26 - Auntie Flo Live Band, Leeds

1.5.26 - Auntie Flo Live Band, Bristol

2.5.26 - Auntie Flo Live Band, Manchester

3.5.26 - Auntie Flo Live Band, Edinburgh

16.5.26 - Auntie Flo Live Band, Ronnie Scott’s, London

23.5.26 - Auntie Flo DJ, Grow Hackney, London

30.5.26 - Brian d’Souza live at Watching Trees UK

19.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Solstice, Cornwall

20.6.26 - Auntie Flo DJ, Wildwood UK

21.6.26 - Plants Can Dance, Wildwood UK

Whilst scrolling a clip of Carl Craig being interviewed came up (which I now can’t seem to find!) where he was talking about how the age of the long track is over, an age that, in dance music terms at least, he helped to shape: Check his catalogue of classic tracks such as his jazzy broken beat project Innerzone Orchestra - ‘Bug In The Bass Bin’ and also epic remixes as ‘C2’ such as ‘Like A Child’ by Junior Boys and ‘Revelee’ by Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom, which in part defined a minimal style of tech house that became popular in the mid 2000s.

These tracks all run to over 10 mins and I’m a massive fan of Craig’s clever use of subtle production tweaks, his patience in letting the sounds unfold and his use of space to create the ultimate drama within the music. He always manages to find an endless groove that locks you in, which is key to enducing that transcendental state (of flow) which we all crave, rewarding you as the track builds over a longer-than-average time span.

Good things come to those that wait, and it’s as much about the song as your ability to listen to it. Patient Listening I called it:

The Battle For Attention

In this day and age, there is a battle for attention: Craig was pointing out in the interview that creating these long tracks in the age of TikTok and Spotify isn’t viable as the average listener just doesn’t have the attention span for it.

BTW. I met someone recently who before uploading their track to Spotify chopped it into six 30-second chunks in order to multiply royalties by 6 after discovering that 30 seconds of listening time constitutes one play! An interesting example of how formats/platforms change the artform…

We live in skip culture which has led to listeners craving the new and the next: just skip to the drop and move on, the Boiler Room highlights reel now seem to make or break a DJs career, not their carefully crafted music.

Long tracks buck this trend - you are rewarded for dedicating your attention to listening from start to finish. In the same way you can fall in love with an album that takes you on a journey, you can fall deeply into a sonic world that an artist creates within a ten minute song, with the added time potentially delivering a richer story than a 30 second social media trailer or 3 minute spotify ‘radio edit’.

I’ve been a long advocate in long tracks, with my Rainfall On Red Earth from ten years ago clocking 16 mins:

And more recently having bigger success with the extended version of Green City (15 mins) than the radio edit:

And my most recent remixes of Doe Paoro (11 and 9 mins):

Looking back at some of my all time favourite pieces of music, a lot falls into this category, and cover a range of genres. So allow me to share with you a list of incredible long songs.

My Favourite Long Songs

The Afrobeat master Fela Kuti’s music often went for over 15 mins, here’s 17 mins of Sorrow, Tears and Blood:

On the more ambient side you have Terry Riley (and the other minimalists) often using an entire album for one or two songs (40 mins total):

Or how about Pauline Oliveros’ original ‘Deep Listening’ album (that lead to her influential and very trendy practise of the same name)? Lear comes in at 24 mins:

Then there’s my dance music hero Ricardo Villalobos (who I’ve written about here) -

Ricardo has countless tracks over 15 minutes long:

I’ve spent a lot of time in the past month revisiting Joanna Newsom’s epic ‘Yss’ album from 2016. I think it’s one of the best albums ever made - I’ve never heard anything like it. ‘Only Skin’ clocks 16 mins and always gives you something new on every listen.

Perhaps the best definition of a long track for the dancefloor is the already-classic ‘Time’ by Pachanga Boys. It’s strength is in it’s simplicity, and it certainly influenced by Carl Craig. Play this at the right time on the dancefloor and you enter a new world:

The lyrics perhaps sum this whole article up “Lost Track of Time…”Isn’t that what we all want from music?

Do you have any other examples of long tracks you love ? please share

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My album dedicated to the Sunflower is out now on Music To Watch Seeds Grow By. Every physical purchase comes with a beautiful yellow tape cassette, a packet of sunflower seeds and some additional prints, as well as the digital download/album stream via the Bandcamp app.

BUY NOW

Launch Party 22nd Feb

For those in London, please come to our album launch party in Hackney Wick this Sunday: TICKETS HERE.

4pm start with a live set from Li Yilei, live performance of ‘sunflowers’ by Brian d’Souza and DJ support from Luca (E2-E8 records)

Track by Track Recordings:

These videos show the tracks as I recorded them, basically doing the whole thing in one take, in one day.

You can see how much/little I interacted with the sounds and the limited editing I did post recording (mainly to fit the tracks onto the required cassette length). Apologies, I forgot to film ‘Hector’s Sunflower’.

The modules I used were: Instruo Scion, Harmonaig, LFO, Mutable Instruments Plaits (x2), Beads, Rings, Clouds, a Filter, Eventide H9 FX.

Read more about how I made it here:

1. Signs of Life

   Sparse bleeps of a life force being birthed into this world from seeds in soil

2. Germination

   An entity starts to come together, with a stalk now being visible and harmonic layers being heard

3. Irrigatio

   Water gives life and the composition starts to flourish, where you can hear the water supporting life in the track

4. Heliotropism

   Light helps growth, with the sunflower physically turning towards the light source as if it were dancing to a single strobe on a dance floor of soil. This track is about movement and vitality!

5. Stand Tall

   With the stalk now becoming stronger, it can support the full flower which starts to pop with audible bursts representing the head opening and petals finally being visible

6. Sunshine, Freedom and a Little Flower

   The full sunflower in all it’s glory is born, with the full symphony now being created, bringing together the sounds heard so far into a full composition - a true representation of the sunflower in all its glory

My latest exploration into biosonification is a new album entitled ‘Sunflowers’. It will be released next week on the fantastic label Music To Watch Seeds Grow By on tape cassette and digital download. We collaborated last year on one of my Plants Can Dance events and they asked me to contribute to their 2026 series of tape albums, with my Sunflowers album kicking things off.

BUY the limited run of beautiful cassette tapes- you even get a bonus pack of seeds!

An obvious direction for me to take was to record some of my bioelectrical musical experiments, using realtime electrical data of plants and mushrooms as a means of music composition. A State of Flo is all about seeking connections to the natural world through music, and Plants Can Dance has been exploring a variety of means of doing this over the past few years.

For Sunflowers, my son was gifted some seeds at his school and was excited to plant them and then see them birth a stem and then flower last summer.

He took the plant pot home and we started to experiment with connecting it to firstly the PlantWave to hear if it made sounds.

It was fun to watch the sunflower grow over a period of a few months, hearing the different ‘music’ via the PlantWave app everytime we ‘plugged’ it in.

Biosonification - How does it work?

At this point, it’s important to explain that the devices I use such as the PlantWave or the Scion (from Instruo) are outputting a stream of data from mostly the water content within the plant. They work using similar principles to the Galvanic Skin Response, which is the physiological effect that the lie detector is based on. It measures increases in sweat molecules if someone is lying.

These devices measure surface conductivity and have each company has devised a formula that maps the fluctuations of electrical voltage changes onto a MIDI map of musical notes i.e. keys on the keyboard. In this way, we able to simply ‘sonify’ the data that is collected in realtime.

If the plant is well watered, more data is produced and you hear a a greater volume and variety of notes being played. The video shows the impact of watering and lead to the creation of the ‘Irragatio’ track on the album.

One common confusion that may need some clarification is the difference between picking up the electrical data from surface conductivity as I’ve explained above versus the electrical signalling that plants do to interact with their environment as a means of interspecies communication. This, as I’ve discovered over the past few years, is the source of some controversy, as opens up the idea of varying levels of plant intelligence.

Do plants, through their signalling (known as ‘action potentials’) have sentience, which allows them to communicate to other flora and fauna in their ecosystem using their electrical output? This is the source of debate in the botany world, and if you are interested in delving deeper I’d highly recommend The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger to learn more. She has a great chapter on another means of plant communication through chemical signalling, which has some similarities to electrical signalling above.

What I’m doing here, and what devices such as PlantWave, Scion, Playtronica have made accessible to all, is not necessarily this. These devices are a fantastic way to enter into a world of biosonification, and artistically I’ve found them to be a freeing way of connecting with the natural world to make music inspired by plants and fungi.

As I’ve witnessed first hand, using music as a medium to ‘listen’ to something natural presents a paradigm shift - allowing audiences to potentially reframe their understanding of the living world - with plants and fungi a crucial part of our interconnected, multi-species planetary ecosystem that we should respect and view more as a symbiosis rather than hierarchy.

I’ve watched kids and pensioners and everyone in between be wowed by this, and gain a lot of joy from ‘listening’ to plants and making music in this way: away from standard tempos, verse/chorus structures and common tunings.

Making the Sunflower Album

The video below shows how I made the album in the studio. All tracks were recorded in the same day, and I tried to embody the life cycle of the sunflower that I’d witnessed in chronological order in the album. It starts very sparsely, with the seeds starting to take root, and then start to flourish with the additional of light and water adding more layers to the compositions before ending up as a fuller symphony of interweaving frequencies where the sunflower stands tall and proud, in all its majesty.

Using a modular synth is a perfect way to achieve this, with each patch cable adding an additional sonic layer - in my head this was akin to each leaf or petal appearing on the flower.

The track titles give you a sense of this progression across the album:

A1. Signs Of Life

A2. Germination

A3. Irrigation

A4. Heliotropism

A5. Stand Tall

B2. Sunshine, Freedom, and a Little Flower

B3. Hector’s Sunflower

Why Sunflowers?

I’ve discovered a lot about sunflowers working on this album: most interestingly, that they are social beings!

When a high-nutrient patch of soil is found halfway between two sunflowers, they would place their roots elsewhere in order to avoid any competitive fight: co-existence for sunflowers is paramount, a stronger urge than dominating the competition.

By doing this, they are demonstrating a high degree of sensitivity to their social environment - which is a contrary perspective to classic Darwinian survival of the fitness thinking, a completely different narrative starts to emerge - one of evolutionary change above all else, rather than competition and dominance.

Research by James F Cahill and Megan K. Ljubotina

Taken from The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger chap 9

Launch Party - 22nd of Feb at Hideout, Hackney Wick, London

Please join us on the 22nd for the launch party!

We’ve invited the incredible Chinese sound artist and ambient musician Li Yilei to perform, and I’ll be doing a live rendition of the sunflower album (if I can get hold of a sunflower at this time of year!).

We’ll have some cassettes of the album and seeds to sell too - so you can try making your own album in this way too!

Early Bird tickets are still available here

Brian d’Souza - Sunflowers will be released 17th Feb on Music To Watch Seeds Grow By

The latest release on A State of Flo is a collaborative EP between myself under my Auntie Flo alias and Costa Rica-based singer-songwriter Sonia Kreitzer aka Doe Paoro. Sonia got in touch last year and asked if I’d like to remix ‘Teach Us Of Endings’ from her recent album ‘Living Through Collapse’.

I was blown away by the parts she sent over: beautifully recorded instrumentation, percussion and vocals, which gave me building blocks that were a joy to work with. I made a standard radio-friendly remix, which will be released next month, but I had so much fun dubbing them out in the studio that I ended up making a 12 minute version - allowing all the part to breathe.

I’m going to sound hypocritical here, as I spend a lot of time advocating for adopting original practises in the creative/music-making process - try not be derivative, break the formula, don’t follow the trends of the day.

However, if there was a formula at work here, it would be very much in the mould of my 2024 track Green City:

• Super long extended version that could go on forever (imo)

• Takes ages for the vocal to drop

• A killer Ziggy Funk guitar part

• Snare Rolls to build the excitement

• Hypnotic CZ5000 Kalimba/Marimba groove

Check Check Check. The main point is, I’ve perhaps found a compositional sweet spot where music exists in a continuous flow, ensures you get fully locked in and builds to reach a state of maximum joy by the end. Just wait and wait for those lush strings to come in!

Does it work for you as well as it does for me?

Maya on the flip is in a similar mould but much moodier - running to 9 mins, it is carried by a Ziggy Funk bassline and some killer percussion. I added analogue synth washes that build until the glorious flute parts enter the fray. To me, it sounds much more Levantine or Middle Eastern - echoes of music by Insanlar/Ricardo Villalobos, Khidja, Red Axes and played by the likes of Ivan Smagghe or Vladimir Ivkovic.

Release Day: Bandcamp Exclusive

I’m going to do an experiment with this release - it is available to buy now on vinyl via my Bandcamp exclusively. I’ve pressed 300 copies on Orange vinyl and they look and sound amazing.

If they all go, perhaps I’ll do another pressing but if not, I’ll work with a distributor to get them into the record shops. I’m all up for supporting the record shops but the costs are so high for vinyl selling direct is the only realistic way of breaking even on a 300 press.

So please, if you want a copy go buy one today on Bandcamp Day (where they don’t take their usual cut).

Support A State Of Flo

You can also get the release by subscribing to A State Of Flo. Super supporters already got their copies of the vinyl in the post this week, and Paid Supporters got their digital copies too. Subscribing gets you everything the label has put out, and I’ll through some vinyl and a ‘zine in the post for you too.

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Birds Of Paradise Repress and Remixes

In case you missed it, Birds Of Paradise was repressed and I have around 40 copies left.

Buying the record gets you the full selection of remixes:

Plants Can Dance: 22nd February

JOIN US FOR THE LAUNCH OF ‘SUNFLOWERS’ on MUSIC TO WATCH SEEDS GROW BY.

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Up for a dance? Auntie Flo DJs in London 21st FEB

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I’m generally not too fussed about remixes: I enjoy making them myself, but never felt a massive urge to hear another producers take on my work. However, as A State Of Flo is a solo operation, I thought that pulling in a few favours to get some remixes would be a good way to build bridges with adjacent producers and hopefully be a way of bringing some if their audiences into my little ecosystem. This package came together quite quickly and I’m pleased with the results. Mostly they are swaps, so look out for my remixes of Los Pulpitos and Orion Agassi…

First up, Sean Johnston is a DJ I’ve admired for a while and his productions as Hardway Bros are always work checking. I suspect he’s best know for sailing the A Love From Outer Space ship solo, post-Andrew Weatherall (RIP), and looks like he’s doing an excellent job of maintaining its core ethos.

I noticed Sean being a fan of my work a couple of years ago. Praise Him was one of his tunes of the 2024, and he’s been known to play Green City and others out at A Love From Outer Space.

His remix of Ceibo is definitely a tune I could hear on the ALFOS dancefloor - deep, chuggy, acidy… the type of track you want to hear whilst lost amongst an over zealous smoke machine in the middle of the dancefloor.

Ruf Dug and I must be about the same age, and I’ve always admired his irreverent style. There is some affinity between the slightly maturer clubbing scenes of Glasgow and Manchester that I guess we both come from, and we’ve crossed paths several times over the years.

His remix is typically wonky, an original take that comes across as a fun analogue studio jam, with many ideas thrown into the mix but maintaining a flow and potency for the dancefloor.

It’s been quite amusing that he keeps popping up on my DJ promo mailer, championing his own work! ‘Ruf Dug is a g’ indeed!

Los Pulpitos is a new group created by Dirk Leyers (ex-Closer Musik w/ Matias Aguayo and Africaine 808) and Rafael from Dengue Dengue Dengue. Back in my Highlife days, we worked with Africaine 808 a fair bit, swapping remixes and guest appearances in Berlin and Glasgow.

I always check everything Dengue Dengue Dengue put out, their production is superlative and bring a credible punch to the slow-mo south american modern-cumbia sound.

Los Pulpitos sound what you might expect - dark, dubby and made-for-the-club, with interesting rhythms that you can’t necessary place in any one genre. Check out their forthcoming album on Crammed Discs.

Orion Agassi is from Bilbao and we were introduced to each other by Huntleys and Palmers Andrew Thomson, who has this uncanny knack of finding incredible tunes from otherwise unknown producers. Agassi’s first Ep was exactly that, and remains one of my most played collection of dancefloor songs in the past few years. And check out his recent 5 year label compilation, which I did this remix for:

Agassi reached out to me when I started A State Of Flo and he’s been mastering most of the records the label has put out. He’s super prolific: I asked him to do a remix one evening and by 4am the next day it was done!

These remixes accompany a repress of the Birds Of Paradise album. We sold the first pressing of 300 copies fairly quickly, so hoping the next press of 200 will go too.

I have 50 up for sale exclusively on Bandcamp right now, before they go into the shops and streaming services next week.

Grab yours here:

NB. Reminder that 10% of all purchases is donated to Earth Percent.

FOR ALL PAID SUBSCRIBERS - You get a free download link to the remixes and album after the paywall.

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One of the takeaways from 2025 is that things take time to build. I started A State Of Flo in Jan 2024 and it feels like only now, two years later, I’m seeing things beginning to flower from seeds planted two years ago (excuse the pun). I haven’t analysed this in great detail but there is a growing sense of things coming together as I’ve kept up the consistency of my creative output - releases, gigs, substack newsletters and social media posts.

As a result, I’m finding opportunities coming through - be them gigs, commissions, collaborations, talks, workshops or whatever. So my advice to anyone in a similar position is: play the long game, you might not get an immediate response but consistently creating (whilst ensuring the quality doesn’t dip) will eventually get noticed.

Moving into 2026, I have three large album projects lined up, a few big commissions which are waiting on funding, the launch of our long awaited mobile app ‘Soniferous’ (click the link to register for early access) and a number of remixes/collaborations and more in the works. It’s an exciting time, and certainly would not have been possible at any point in the past two years.

A change this year is letting my followers into my process in the studio and elsewhere via Instagram. I’ve decided to embrace it, with more reels spoken to camera. Follow here to have a look.

Birds Of Paradise Remixes

I’m excited to share some activity lined up for this year, starting with the first release on the label. I reached out a bunch of DJs and producers who I’ve looked up to to remix tracks from Birds Of Paradise: Sean Johnston (as Hardway Bros) from A Love From Outer Space, Manchester’s Ruf Dug (NTS / Rhythm Section), Los Pulpitos (a new collaboration signed to Crammed Discs between Closer Musik’s Dirk Leyers and Rafael from Dengue Dengue Dengue), Bilbao’s Orion Agassi (who masters a lot of the music on the label) and also added a new version of EarthNRG from myself, inspired by a conversation we had during the album launch Bandcamp Listening Party.

My approach was to call upon people I’ve connected with over the years, and who have who have recently played or complimented my music. Most notably, Sean Johnston became an early supporter of the label, which gave me a big boost - his support of ‘Praise Him’ from 2024 opened the Auntie Flo name up to his dedicated follower base.

The remix package will now be included in a freshly re-pressed vinyl version of the album where the album download will include the remixes. The first pressing sold out so if you missed out, order your copy now (they will be shipped by the end of the month)

Auntie Flo x Doe Paoro

Costa Rica-based singer-songwriter Doe Paoro asked me to remix ‘Teach Us Of Endings’, one of the singles from her recent album, ‘Living Through Collapse’. I had so much fun with the recordings that we agreed I’d develop this into an EP, creating two extended versions - Green City style - and that I’d press on limited orange vinyl on A State Of Flo.

I can’t wait to share these extended balearic bombs.. coming next month.

Brian d’Souza - Sunflowers + Plants Can Dance 22nd Feb with Li Yihae

Last year, Plants Can Dance collaborated with the cassette label ‘Music To Watch Seeds Grow By’ at our September event in London, featuring two of their artists Stella Z and Lapalace. I was subsequently asked to create an album for their second series of releases kicking off this year. I’m honoured to kick off the series with ‘Sunflowers’ and album which tracks a sunflowers life cycle using biosonification of biodata from a sunflower to inspire the album.

It will be released on 17th Feb. Pre-Order the album here. With the cassette you also get a packet of sunflower seeds!

We’re hosting a launch party at the first Plants Can Dance of the year, at Hideout, London Sunday 22nd Feb. It will featured a live rendition of the Sunflower album and a live set from another ‘Seeds’ artist lined up for 2026, the renowned Chinese ambient musician- Li Yilei. If you are unfamiliar, listen to this incredible album ‘Nonage’ from last year:

Tickets can be purchased here:

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RA

Eventbrite

We’re presenting this event as more of an ambient concert, just to change up the format (plus Lamine can’t make this one). So think beanbags on the floor, an afternoon of deep listening and still-ness surrounded by plants.

Brian d’Souza x Ru Earl - Deep Listening at the Turner Gallery

I did a Plants Can Dance performance at Shai Space in south London last year, and was pleased when they asked me to be part of their Turner Gallery takeover in Margate on 7th Feb. I was giving an open brief and opportunity to collaborate with visual artist Ru Earl. Our project has come together really quickly, with Rupert’s analogue light box visuals and great match for my cascading arpeggios on the modular, exploring psychedelic states of consciousness. Here’s a little sneak peek:

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Auntie Flo Live band at Magnetic Fields Nomads, Rajasthan India

I’ve toured India four or five times and always had Magnetic Fields festival on my bucket list. In December, they reached out and asked if I could bring the Auntie Flo band over, they’d seen the footage of our Jazz Cafe gig and loved it.

So social media does work! Catch us on 14th Feb - visa permitting I’ll be joined by Ambasa Mandela from Kenya to sing Green City and Mame N’Diack from Senegal for Mame’s Story and others.

Auntie Flo DJ set at Fox + Firkin 21st Feb 2026

I’m a DJ at heart and excited to have an opportunity to DANCE at this London event. I’ve got so many new dance floor tracks to play - come down for a boogie. Excited to be joined by Sarah tonin too, who is a resident at Bill Brewster’s Low Life parties.

Here’s a recent DJ mix I did to get you in the mood:

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Auntie Flo remix of Wake Up Baby by Isa Gordon & Tony Morris

I’m a mega Tony Morris fan and it was fantastic to join up with my og Glasgow crew Huntleys + Palmers to put together this remix package (coming soon).

Auntie Flo ‘Mycelia’ on Permanent Vacation’s Still Motion ambient Compilation

I honestly have no memory of making this song (!) so was pleasantly surprised when Benji from Permanent Vacation records told me it came out this week as part of the ‘Still Motion’ compilation

Alex Horne aka Fine Grains Records (1982-2025)

Finally a special mention to one of my best friends Alex Horne who sadly passed away on 20th December after a 6 year battle with cancer. Alex and I met at university 20+ years ago and connected over music, football and a lust for life. He quietly battled this horrendous illness, achieving more in the past six years that many do in a life time.

I was honoured to be asked to say a few words at his funeral last week and connect with his closest friends and family over the past few months. His label put out some amazing music, not least the Cain album from last year, which was one of my favourites.

I’m running the London Landmarks Half Marathon on April in his memory, raising money for Momentum Cancer Charity. If you’d like to donate, please follow this LINK