- "Every opportunity to learn something new is what's going to grow your craft as an artist." The Toronto star talks discipline and gaining self-confidence as a producer.
- Cindy Li, AKA Ciel, always seems to be one step ahead. The label head, DJ, producer and activist has a hard-won career that dance music producers dream of—when she's not playing underground institutions across the globe, maintaining radio residencies, planning her own parties or collaborating with her favourite artists, she's thinking about what's next. "I'm the type of person who will stay up trying to finish everything rather than going to bed," she tells RA's Nyshka Chandran in this week's episode.
The Toronto resident is a conservatory-trained pianist who uses the discipline she learnt from a lifetime of lessons to balance DJing and production. "For me, it's challenging to juggle both because they use very different parts of my brain," she describes. A deep digger whose love for atmospheric textures and '90s grooves influences her fresh take on UKG, tech house and jungle, Li has been putting out music since 2017. She has various EPs and singles under her name, plus several joint releases with the likes of Dan Only, D.Tiffany and Priori. But, she says, she didn't always have the confidence for a solo full-length.
"I never thought I could write an album," she admits. That changed after playing live for the first time at MUTEK Montréal in 2021, leading to the 2023 release of her debut album, Homesick. "Don't ever let fear influence your decision-making," she says, describing how that show pushed her to overcome lingering doubts in the studio.
For more on Li's process, listen to the episode in full.