Fiona is a wunderkind, one who has managed to transform a career in journalism into a fully fleshed out and experimental existence as a DJ and artist. From an early age, Fiona’s interest lay in a multitude of different fields, this sort of interest in everything and anything acted to encourage, rather than stymy her artistic growth. Moving into talent management following her stint in journalism, before landing at the role of DJ, Fiona has managed to cultivate an individual path.
Neglecting to give into commercial pressures, Fiona has become successful on her own terms, with residencies on essential stations such as Rinse and Hangar, and a recent Mix of the Day nod from Resident Advisor for her Crack Magazine mix that explored the French underground scene. She’s a champion of euphoric sounds, and is gaining recognition for her skill amongst the French fashion scene. Having recently opened up for Jayda G in Vienna, and played on a heady bill at Paradise City Festival, it suffice to say Fiona is just beginning to show her potential as a creative and DJ.
Fiona’s style, which encompasses sounds as wide as acid house, disco, and breakbeat, is underpinned by a sense of fun and a focus on emotion. Her sense of emotion and fun remains present in her sets, and in her attitude towards all this newfound success. With her unfaltering belief in the power of dance music to transform and uplift, Fiona is such a welcome dose in the, at times, stagnant or jaded dance music scene.
Fiona’s style, which encompasses sounds as wide as acid house, disco, and breakbeat, is underpinned by a sense of fun and a focus on emotion. Her sense of emotion and fun remains present in her sets, and in her attitude towards all this newfound success. With her unfaltering belief in the power of dance music to transform and uplift, Fiona is such a welcome dose in the, at times, stagnant or jaded dance music scene.
Hi there, Fiona, thanks for taking the time to chat to us at Metal. How are you doing?
Hi hi! I’m good thank you, life has been quite surreal and intense lately but all for the best, I’m in a very happy place right now.
You have had a really diverse career, beginning as a journalist, before moving into the field of talent management, how did you eventually realise that you wanted to be a DJ?
Yes, I still have quite a diverse day to day life to be honest, I think I’m someone who could never decide to do only one thing from a young age, my interests were always in different fields, always kind of creative nonetheless. As I grew up I realised these types of people were called multi-hyphenate and decided it would be my mission to become one. Music came very naturally, I was always passionate about it, and collected music since I got pocket money. When I was in my early twenties I decided to learn a new skill and bought a controller. I learned that way by myself, it’s only later when I moved to Paris that I had the opportunity to share my taste to an audience and it just became so addictive I couldn’t live without the feeling.
Are there any roles you are looking to step into as an artist in the near future?
I would love to share my own productions one day, but I’m not in a rush. I think there are insanely talented producers out there, I will share my own music when I feel like I bring something qualitative to the table. Since I started DJing, I’ve been rushed by a couple industry people to release something no matter what, even to take a ghost producer. But this is not why I do this, I’m so lucky I get to call this my job and I want to become a vector of eclectic taste and euphoria in music not just release to release and have the title producer I want to be able to express myself through beautiful mediums, that’s it. Maybe it will be through production, maybe through set design or curation or my own party, there’s more than one way I believe.
On another level, me and my partner are working on a cultural experienc exhibition in Paris that will happen towards the end of the year with our company and project MANYFORMS, this is so exciting and takes a lot of my time at the moment, and I can’t wait.
On another level, me and my partner are working on a cultural experienc exhibition in Paris that will happen towards the end of the year with our company and project MANYFORMS, this is so exciting and takes a lot of my time at the moment, and I can’t wait.
Fashion and music seem to always have a strong tie, what is it about these two artistic mediums that you find captivating? In what ways do they link?
I think they both have the capacity to touch the soul, music definitely on another, more global scale but if you think of the craftsmanship behind fashion, the ability to express your personality, your culture, your taste without having to talk is one of the most interesting ways of creating to me. There’s so many layers, subcultures and ways of belonging to a community in both, also in my opinion they totally complete [each other] and harmonise together. Maybe some underground purists, in love with the past would say fashion has nothing to do with music but I think it has been always a way of expression especially at the essence of dance music, Chicago and New York, when Black, Queer, Latinx communities got together and created the movement we all live off today and were so free and avant garde in their way of dressing and presenting themselves to the world, I think also nightlife has always inspired designers. I especially appreciate when DJs and artists can communicate their art not only with their sound but their way of dressing or their artistic direction overall.
What sort of music were you into growing up, and in what ways is your sound influenced by your ties to Italy?
I had different phases, my parents were big disco and pop aficionados so my first introduction to music was Kool & The Gang, Prince, my dad was in love with Whitney Houston and my mum's favourite song was Missing, the Todd Terry remix . They also loved Italian music obviously so I always had a strong tie with Italo disco but also to more folkloric yet iconic music from artists like Pino D’Angio.
Then I had my Britney mega fan phase for a couple years, I started going out and listening to electronic music right after that, at around 15 years old and fell in love with French touch, but also old school house music. Then I moved to LA and started listening to more 90s hip-hop, that’s when I learned how to DJ, so I started with this and RnB at the beginning and then as I moved back to Europe and fell in love again with club culture I naturally drifted back to electronic music.
Then I had my Britney mega fan phase for a couple years, I started going out and listening to electronic music right after that, at around 15 years old and fell in love with French touch, but also old school house music. Then I moved to LA and started listening to more 90s hip-hop, that’s when I learned how to DJ, so I started with this and RnB at the beginning and then as I moved back to Europe and fell in love again with club culture I naturally drifted back to electronic music.
You have radio shows on Rinse and a residency at Hangar, how do you view radio as a tool for DJ’s exploring their sound?
It has been my biggest blessing to have support from the Rinse team early on. They took me under their wing when I was quite a baby and really helped me connect to other artists in the scene, but also to explore sounds and sharpen my taste. Radio takes a lot of time but really makes you dig even when you can get lazy and maybe explore universes you wouldn't have in a club or festival [contexts], it gives you the opportunity to play songs to an invisible audience that you probably would have played only in your living room which is amazing.
Same with Hangar, I met the guys at my very first festival, Solaris in Verbier during Covid, which was a blessing but in disguise as there was a storm and it was raining like crazy, everyone kind of left except 20 of my friends who came to support and maybe 15 people from Belgium including the Hangar crew which I had no idea who they were, but we had the time of our life under the rain in the Swiss mountains, they asked me to come play an afterparty in a house the same night and we never parted ways since then.
Same with Hangar, I met the guys at my very first festival, Solaris in Verbier during Covid, which was a blessing but in disguise as there was a storm and it was raining like crazy, everyone kind of left except 20 of my friends who came to support and maybe 15 people from Belgium including the Hangar crew which I had no idea who they were, but we had the time of our life under the rain in the Swiss mountains, they asked me to come play an afterparty in a house the same night and we never parted ways since then.
You were just on the setlist for Jayda G’s album release in Vienna, how did this collaboration come about?
I think to start, I am a big admirer of Jayda, her contagious energy and bubble she gets in when she DJs is so inspiring, I remember watching her dekmantel boiler room early on and she wowed me. I’ve worked with Electronic Beats for Design week before and we wanted to do something together again and Wolfram is my dear friend and playing b2b with him is always so much fun, I’ve never been to Vienna so only good reasons [vibes] for this.
What are some DJ milestones in your career? Favourite club, show, etc?
I still very much feel like a baby DJ, because of Covid, I really started having nice club or festival gigs in 2021, so I’m really in a phase where everything feels great and a lot of firsts! I’ve recently sold out my first headline show in Milan, which was insane to me! I think just reading my name on lineups with DJs I like so much still feels surreal, I’ve played with Laurent Garnier in December - things like that that feel completely absurd.
In the last 6 months I also had the opportunity to play in Tokyo, have a headline show in Seoul, and play with Goldie in Mexico City. It's all just pure happiness and I’m trying to enjoy every minute of it.
In the last 6 months I also had the opportunity to play in Tokyo, have a headline show in Seoul, and play with Goldie in Mexico City. It's all just pure happiness and I’m trying to enjoy every minute of it.
