Women in Ambient Music and Thoughts on Gender Equality in Music Production
- The Slow Music Movement
- Aug 20, 2020
- 16 min read
*** This is an edited version of an old blog post I've manually copied over from my previous website host, due to time constraints I haven't included all the music player embeds ***
The first time I seriously contemplated gender parity in music production was March 8th 2019, International Women's Day. As a gesture of solidarity I thought I would "reflect on, highlight and celebrate some of the women that have enriched The Slow Music Movement with their talent, creativity and presence over the last year", and compile a playlist consisting of a track from each female artist that I had supported that year. It didn't take me as long as I thought it would.
The following year I thought I would update the list, again it wasn't a lengthy enough process. After a quick calculation I approximated that roughly 15% of my daily recommendations were women, similar I guess to 2019. In that day's blog I mused:
"I've given some thought to why this is and I think that one of the main contributing factors is the fact that I support quite a lot of ambient/chilled/instrumental electronic music which is certainly still not an area where women seem to be well represented. I'd love to hear some thoughts on why this is? I imagine that women, often being saner creatures than men, are less inclined to spend lots of time shacked up and isolated in studios/bedrooms messing about with electronic equipment, cables, software patches and plugins. A bit like vinyl collecting, studio work seems to be a peculiarly male past time or obsession. Please feel free to shoot down this overly salient, quickly conceived hypothesis and suggest your own. I'm all ears.
Certainly a large amount of the artists represented in the playlists, I'd say around 75%, seem to be vocalists or players of more traditional musical instruments which might, from this sample, suggest that women do lean towards more traditional musical paths. Of course it could also be my personal affection for the female voice? Subjectivity, and I hope not bias or discrimination, is undoubtedly a factor.
I've also included only acts led by women in the list, which partly I hope provides some mitigating circumstances(!) to my poor representation figures, but there are also obviously lots (still not 50%) of unsung female band members in other acts that TSMM has supported. Can you hear me squirming whilst trying to wriggle off the hook I seem to have impaled myself on?"
Playlist Companion
Six months later I find myself working on two TSMM music compilation projects. The record label is about to drop its eighth release and there is still not a woman on the roster (in my defence I have a approached a few and there is now hopefully one artist LP in the pipeline), so I thought the compilations would be an ideal place to start to rectify my own label's gender imbalance. One of the compilation projects is taking a look at ambient music in a context related to the current virus situation. I was looking through my playlists of ambient music and connecting with female artists to see if they wanted to contribute, and again it struck me how skewed the number of male to female producers was, so I went to Group Mind, an ambient Facebook page I frequent, and posted, "Quick question to the Group Mind hive! It's struck me recent how male dominated the world of ambient music is, although this problem extends to the electronic music world in general. I'd love to hear some female ambient artist recommendations please. Feel free to suggest the reason for this discrepancy whilst you're at it". I have to say the group is a true fountain of ambient music knowledge and the comments and recommendations started flying. Ironically all but two of the respondents were men, which confirmed some of my suspicions about the male to female ratio in the ambient world, but I picked up loads of great tips and recommendations. The Facebook post can be read here,
In amongst all the great recommendations there was only thought on the actual "why?" of this imbalance, "I suspect the bias is less in who is making ambient than in who is selected to be promoted", and when you look at some ambient labels' rosters, there might be some truth in that. Someone else asked "Are there any genres that are female dominated?" I answered "folk, pop, classical, soul", but then had a quick thought and skimmed through the Billboard top 100 for that week. Here were my findings: "Just checked the Billboard Top 100, looks like there are 15 women in the top 100. I only counted Taylor Swift once, though she has about 7 tracks in the top 100!" So it's obviously not just the ambient music genre that has an issue.
Let's just be honest, we are so far away from sexual equality in pretty much every aspect of life, even in the so called "woke" parts of the world. This is an issue being addressed, discussed & confronted by a small percentage of first world dwellers, it's not even much of a discussion in 75% of the countries in the world. Don't despair though, I honestly feel there is cause for long term optimism. The conversation has started, not just with sexual equality but race and sexual preference too. The younger generation especially are calling out discrimination on a regular basis. It might take a two or three generations in the more progressive countries, possibly longer in others, but change is happening. Slowly but surely.
I mean here I am writing this blog post where five years ago, as much as I supported equality in all areas of life, I didn't. After starting the discussion on Facebook, the least I could do was to make the group recommendations more visible and searchable to the world. So I've listed all of the artists in the order that they were recommended. As I'm busy with music discovery, I'll also be keeping it updated with my new discoveries, but you can help too.
Big thanks to Group Mind for all the great artist suggestions, without them this blog post would never have happened.
Further Reading & Links:
Feminatronic is about celebrating and highlighting the musical creativity of electronic artists who just happen to identify as female.
List of the producers from the original three part blog post (it was too long for one post!):
Nadia Khan is a producer from Charlotte, North Carolina. Her album for Scissors & Thread (I love this label!) is great, & I'm also digging the ambient house tracks on it. Soundcloud, Spotify, Twitter and Instagram profiles.
Ulla Straus leapt on the ambient scene in 2017 and has been making good music and getting good press ever since. The release to the right is her latest.
Vida Vojic is an eclectic ambient producer who also uses her voice in her work. Currently releasing music every full moon!
Ana Roxanne is an LA based ambient artist with one album to her name on Leaving Records, and so far so good. I love this LP, although how it's pronounced I'm not sure? :) Spotify, Instagram
Nailah Hunter is another LA artist & composer who plays the harp & also uses her voice, with a penchant for cosmic, celestial ambient. Seems to have been around for about 5 years, but her recent work on Leaving Records (them again!) is starting to get her noticed.
Arushi Jain/Ose/ओस/Modular Princess is a lady of many names & talents, sitting between the US & India. Trained vocally in Hindustani classical music, she produces ambient vibed electronic music, sometimes with beats, that are firmly rooted in Indian ragas. She also runs a label called Ghungru, and is a coder as well as radio host. Whether she sleeps or not is widely speculated on :)
Elsa Hewitt is a great UK electronic producer, singer & I'm guessing multi-instrumentalist, who seems to have been around forever but I guess is still in her 20s? Although she has drifted stylistically from folk & singer songwriter, to eclectic electronic & beats, even rapping, her music seems to be getting more ambient & experimental with age.
Olga Wojciechowska Is an amazing Polish composer & multi-instrumentalist who drifts between modern classical & electronic music, not to mention her work for dance, theatre & visual projects.
Sarah Davachi is a wonderful, LA based, Canadian electroacoustic composer & performer, tending to the slow, minimal & baroque.
Grouper is the solo project of musician & visual artist, Liz Harris. Some might dispute the ambient tag, but she is slow, electroacoustic and most definitely ethereal and that's good enough for me.
Lucy Gooch has been singing in choirs forever & is just starting to release ambient leaning melodic music, incorporating her wonderful voice & is undeniably a talent in the making.
Suzanne Cianni is a world famous composer, neo-classical & electronic artist with a long and illustrious career. When people are making documentaries about you, and you've composed music for a host of world famous brands, you know you've arrived.
Pauline Oliveros (1932 - 2016) was an American composer & accordionist, who was central in the development of experimental & post war electronic music. Although her experimenting took her in many directions, much of her work leant towards the ambient, although it's not always an easy listen.
Meredith Monk is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker & choreographer & a pioneer in "extended vocal technique", who has had a long life, not just a career in music. A musically eclectic soul, and certainly not strictly ambient.
Julianna Barwick probably doesn't need too much of an introduction. Another artist with a church choir history, that uses her voice as an, often abstract, instrument in combination with electronic music & minimal looping techniques, although her sound is usually nothing but full bodied.
Sonja Tofik is a new generation Swedish ambient electronic composer who isn't afraid to delve into darker and more experimental realms.
Felicia Atkinson is a fantastic French composer & visual artist, for whom nature & contemplation play a central role in the creative process. She's a voyager & serial collaborator so anything can happen, but a lot of her solo work tends to the ambient. She also runs the excellent multi-disciplinary publisher, Shelter Press.
Penelope Trappes is an Australian musician, vocalist and etherial soundscaper who leans to the darker & serious side and who has recently worked with some great labels.
Lena Raine is a successful computer game composer who has composed for Minecraft & Celeste, amongst others. Although she can produce some upbeat tracks, she has a strong line in cinematic ambient electronic work. Her non computer game music under the Kuraine moniker is where she really lets rip.
Marja Nuut is a singer, violinist, composer and electronic artist who roams restlessly across her musical interests, whether it's hindustani classical music or Estonia's musical heritage. I'm a big fan.
Emily A. Sprague is an American songwriter & composer with a great line in gentle, New Age leaning ambient sounds. She's also got a great folk sideline as part of Florist.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith is a leading proponent of modular synthesis & also utilizes her processed voice. Sometimes she throws in some beats, but if not still has a tendency to rhythmic electronica, or "bright, fluid soundscapes". Also started her own label in 2020. I pretty much love everything she does.
Pauline Anna Strom will hopefully start making music again soon. Strom recorded 6 analogue electronic LPs with a New Age vibe in the 80s that were rereleased in 2017 to much acclaim. After that musical flourish she devoted her time to developing a spiritual healing practice, & is currently based in San Francisco.
Lucettte Bourdin sadly passed away in 2011 but was a French visual & ambient artist. Apparently her 25 LPs were recorded in an 8 year period! In 2017 there were a couple of remix albums of her work by Stephen Philips released on Bandcamp
Spotify, Website, Earth Mantra (Label for non Bandcamp LPs)
Noveller is a guitarist, although you might not realise it sometimes. She's mastered the art of creating, dramatic, if slightly sombre tending, cinematic, ambient soundscapes with her instrument & a host of pedals & effects. She's even collaborated with Iggy Pop!
Lauren Doss is a multi-disciplinary artist with a great line in ambient leaning electronica that she seems to have recently started developing. Doss also makes good use of her voice in her work.
Christina Vantzou is a US composer & multi-media artist, resident in Belgium, & who happily wanders between ambient, orchestral & experimental music.
Katie Gately is decidedly experimental & beat prone, but is included here on the basis of the group recommendation & the fact her recent LP is utilising dramatic ambient soundscapes more than before. One of the least ambient artists in the list, but still worth knowing about.
Jane Antonia Cornish is a contemporary classical composer, so again not strictly ambient but when her profiles say, "Time, silence, light, reflection and transcendence", her inclusion shouldn't cause too much uproar. Cornish was also the first woman ever to win a BAFTA for music.
Lyra Pramuk is yet another multi-disciplinary artist. Pramuk puts her manipulated and looped voice to the fore in her work which hovers around the experimental ambient & electronic world.
Green-House is the artistic name of non-binary artist Olive Ardizoni (I know they shouldn't be here, but they're great, I want to promote their work & I guess no one has done a list of non-binary ambient producers?). They are another Leaving Records artist, who has come to prominence recently with a great line in new age of New Age ambient endeavour.
Sign Libra is another artist who strays far from the horizontal path, but overall has a nice new age of New Age ambient quality to her work which I've always enjoyed. She also makes great use of her voice.
Bianca Scout is online bio shy but makes "strange angel music and fantasy ballet" which is just fine by me. Again not strictly ambient but produces the sort of non propulsive experimentalism which is not going to get any feet tapping.
Synth Sisters are an Osaka based Japanese duo who I wish had some social profiles I could find. They can get upbeat so I've embedded their most ambient work from this great tape release on Japanese ambient label, Muzan Editions.
Clarice Jensen is a composer & cellist whose solo work is classical in nature, but involves processing & layering the cello to amazing effect and who is a serial collaborator embarking on all sorts of neo-classical adventures.She's also the artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble.
Conny Frischauf is an Austrian electronic vocal artist with some pleasing ambient outings to her name alongside her more rhythmic productions.
Katya Yonder is a Russian ambient artist that uses her vocals to great effect and amazingly sings in English, Japanese & French as well as Russian.
Vera Dvale is a digitally elusive Norwegian ambient artist & DJ, seemingly with a preference for collaboration & obscure hard to obtain tape releases.
Helene Rickhard is another digitally elusive Norwegian DJ & ambient artist, whose work, sometimes involving beats, has found favour with the Balearic world. Just one joint EP and quite a few tracks on compilations so far.
Suzanne Doucet has been around the music business for 40 years. A former pop star she is now a leading light in the New Age world & a black belt in all things musically horizontal.
Hollie Kennif has been producing music with her husband for a while, but 2019 saw her solo push. A dreamy electronic ambient aura is enhanced with creative use of her voice. Positive vibes all round.
Jo Johnson's has been banging out some great music for the last 5 years. Bandcamp seems to be the place to head for Jo's ambient offerings with a rare more uptempo electronic release being her main presence on the streaming services.
Jaja is not of this world. She specialises in long form deep space soundtracks perfect for drifting through the deepest, loneliest voids of the galaxy. All her solo music is released on the free audio label CYAN, under a creative commons license, which is unusual & refreshing for work of such quality. A lot of the work is mastered at a really low level, so make sure you turn it right up.
Catherine Christer Hennix is another pioneering figure, this time from Sweden. A sound artist, poet, composer, philosopher, mathematician & visual artist, often associated with the early minimalist movement. Now in her 70's she is still performing live.
Ellen Arkbro is a Swedish composer & sound artist working with intervallic harmony in just intonation. Her work leans to the experimental, (slightly) uneasy and drone side of the genre and demands attention.
Marta Forseberg is a Swedish composer, sound/light artist and violinist working in the field of installation art, drone music and improvisation. A realy mixed bag sonically tending to the experimental. Her work is a bit scattered so head to the music section of her website for easier exploring.
Caterina Barbieri is a successful Italian composer that composes polyphonic, polyrhythmic minimal music for analog synthesizers. Certainly beatless but rarely relaxing, with a sound palette that reaches out to you.
Johanna M. Beyer (1888-1944).Beyer was a pioneers' pioneer when it came to experimentalism. Born in Germany she moved to the USA where she mixed with the likes of John Cage, favouring the dissonant counterpoint compositional style. Music of the Spheres (1938) is the first known work scored for electronic instruments by a female composer.
cétieu is the ambient drone moniker of Warsaw based artist Tekla Mrozowicka, who also dabbles with different styles of electronic music.
Klara Lewis is a Swedish electronic producer. Not strictly ambient but she always turns the atmosphere up to 11, and does a lot of beatless, though quite often rhythmic, ambient work.
Olivia Way is perhaps the most quintessential ambient producer on this list. Eschewing the streaming platforms she is a prolific Bandcamp artist, focussing on classic ambient sounds.
Hélène Vogelsinger is another electronic producer who is not strictly ambient, but who has a great line in rhythmic modular synth work & also utilises her voice to wonderful effect.
Elin Piel is a "synthesizer enthusiast", a description I'm hugely enjoying whilst researching the often serious electronic world. Not adverse to using beats & often with a rhythmic quality to her work, she's a relatively new producer to the public sphere & one to keep an eye on I feel.
Sofie Birch is an artist whose work I thoroughly enjoy & have recommended through the site. Great sound design, diverse arrangements & with a very listenable sound.
Kelly Moran comes from a classical background & is a composer & musician. Although having played in rock & avant-garde groups she is essentially neo-classical & perhaps best known for her ambient piano work.
Kara-Lis Coverdale is another classically trained pianist that has embraced the world of electronic music and fused the two, to amazing effect. I urge you to hit play on the Grafts, LP to the right!
Mira Calix is here mainly because she got recommended in the group post & I like her. Calix does have her ambient moments but is far too restless a soul to retire into one genre, file her under boundary pushing if you need to. She is also a DJ, multi-disciplinary artist & has been putting out music for 30 years.
Colleen is a multi-instrumentalist & vocalist who is far from being just an ambient artist. She certainly has a penchant for ambient textures & is included here because she appeared in the group chat and I'm a fan and somewhat biased :)
Jo Quail is a cello player and classical player who also has a fine line in experimentation, processing her instrument with loop pedals and electronics to great effect. Equally at home in a posh frock in an orchestra or surrounded by wires and screens.
Sarah Louise is a 12 string guitarist, whose work I originally picked up on via her folk output. Then, out of the blue last year, she suddenly started to develop a good line in psychedelic, ambient, acid folk experimentation, for want of a better description. Another genre bending artist on the ambient list - what's the world coming to?
Mary Lattimore is another LA based harpist, an instrument that is becoming more popular in recent times, partly because of her. As well as being an in demand session player she often augments her harp with electronic music, whilst retaining the instrument's ethereal, celestial qualities.
Kali Malone is a slightly sombre, minimal electroacoustic artist, who came to wider attention with her minimal and drone work with classic organ sounds last year. (see right)
Meg Bowles is a classically trained composer who went into investment banking but then swerved into shamanism & psychoanalysis, whilst developing a parallel existence as a synthesist & ambient artist with a New Age leaning.
Tracy Chow, not content with being a guitarist & singer with a fondness for Americana also rather unusually produces some great ambient music. Sometimes she rather wonderfully combines the two.
Martina Claussen is a professor of voice with a fancy for slow moving sounds and the electroacoustic/experimental world, although she's been around for a while she's just released her debut LP. (right)
Andrée Burelli is an Italian artist formerly known as Bodyverse, who comes from a classical & jazz background, and is now living in Berlin producing ambient, electroacoustic and experimental electronic works.
