#TOTEMO EVERYTHING HAPPENS ONLY ONCE SERIES#

After releasing her debut EP Electrical Encounters in 2017 on UK label Peach Discs, her subsequent work – including four EPs and a mini-album titled Trojan Horse – also nods to her eclectic disposition, featuring four-to-the-floor rhythms as well as more experimental ambient and New Age sounds. “I'm too interested in a lot of different styles, and I never want to restrict myself.”Īs a producer, Ciel is prolific. “I'll never play just one genre,” she says. Shifting from breaks to electro or minimal techno to jungle, their versatility reflects her own fascination with different sounds. As well as amplifying local talent, the events welcomed international artists, such as Aurora Halal, Lena Willikens, and Courtesy, to the city.Ĭiel’s DJ sets are dynamic, not to be pinned down or narrowed into any particular genre. I was occupying a niche that was unfilled,” says Li.

No one else was booking women at the time in Toronto.

#TOTEMO EVERYTHING HAPPENS ONLY ONCE SERIES#

In 2015, she launched her Work In Progress show on the independent radio platform Toronto Radio Project, and following its success, began throwing a series of parties under the same name in the area. This would prove foundational in her current work however, it was a love of hip hop that would eventually inspire her to take up DJing while at university.Ĭommunity, whether at her university radio station or local record store, has been integral to Li’s development as an artist.

“I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the scene in Toronto.” Born in Xi’an but based in the Canadian city since her teenage years, Li grew up in a musical household, learning to play the piano from the age of four. “We all have something to learn from each other and I think community is a huge part of what motivates me to do what I do,” says producer and DJ Cindy Li, aka Ciel. The new track is paired with a meditative and dark music video directed by Neta Shenitzer, with a black and white colour palette offering a stark contrast to the airy sonics that lets Totemo’s haunting vocals soar.Click here to listen to the Carhartt WIP Radio Show featuring Ciel. Lyrically, Totemo touches on themes of courage and sacrifice in the face of failure, delivered by her delicate vocals which sit above a subtly driving tapestry of synths and clapping rhythms. Following her debut album, the artist is kicking off 2020 with a reflective new single, See You At The Beginning. In 2019, Totemo returned with her first full-length release, Everything Happens Only Once. This period was followed by the critically acclaimed Desire Path EP (2016), which gained the artist new fans and approval from taste-markers around the world. Her debut EP Heavy as My Dreams was released in 2014 while she underwent a year of treatment for cancer she eventually survived. As a teenager, she began honing her mesmerising electronic dream-pop sound that melded East-Asian melodic soundscapes with moody downtempo synths and haunting vocals. Totemo (Rotem Or) is a producer, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Totemo everything happens only once