LGBT+ artists you need to know: 5 – Octo Octa (She/Her pronouns)

The road to Pride…

With a background in sound design and several years spent as a ‘fringe IDM’ artist, Maya Bouldry-Morrison first began releasing music as Octo Octa in 2011, on LA’s newly minted underground house label 100% Silk. It was the beginning of a prolific few years, several more releases for the label would culminate in her 2013 debut LP “Between Two Selves” – a deeply personal record of “Warehouse-ready techno and dreamlike deep house” (Pitchfork). This was followed by 2014’s “Cause I Love You” EP – which earned a spot on SPIN Magazine’s ‘50 Best Dance Songs Of 2014’ – as well as releases on labels such as Running Back, Skylax and finally on Honey Soundsystem’s HNYTRX offshoot. It was here that she released her most recent album, 2017’s “Where Are We Going?”, with Resident Advisor lauding Bouldry-Morrison “a mature and gifted producer, one capable not only of conjuring up vivid sounds, but of using those sounds to express intimate parts of her biography and inner experience”. Her most recent record “Devotion” – a split release with partner Eris Drew – was released to widespread praise in October 2018, including being named in Pitchfork’s ‘Best Electronic Music of 2018’ and came just ahead of Maya being named as one of Mixmag’s ‘Artists Of The Year 2018’.

An exponentially increasing touring schedule over the past two years has seen Maya traverse between intimate all night DJ sets in her native NYC to performing her live show to thousands of revelers at Spain’s Sonar-by-Night, with stops along the way at the likes of Berlin’s Panorama Bar, Frankfurt’s Live At Robert Johnson, and London’s formidable Printworks.