Florian-Ayala Fauna is an American artist, musician, poet, and music producer. Fauna is the main member of the post-industrial music project uncertain.
Personal life
Florian-Ayala Fauna was born in
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...
.
At age 5, Fauna moved to
Bombay Beach, California
Bombay Beach is a census-designated place (CDP) in Imperial County, California, United States. It is located on the Salton Sea, west-southwest of Frink and is the lowest community in the United States, located below sea level. The population ...
, in
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
along the
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly salinity, saline endorheic lake in Riverside County, California, Riverside and Imperial County, California, Imperial counties in Southern California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the S ...
.
She credits the place as an inspiration to her music.
She described it as a "post-apocalyptic-looking town."
At age 12, she began experimenting with
sampling and rough recordings with a microphone.
In 2002, Fauna lived in the
exurb
An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburbs, suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing-density,
and rela ...
community of
Indio, California
Indio (Spanish language, Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. Indio is approximately east of Los Angeles, east of Palm Springs, ...
.
At age 21, she moved to
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
, where she has been part of Buffalo's experimental art and music scene.
Fauna experiences esoteric
vision
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...
s which is involved in her art due to
temporal lobe epilepsy
In the field of neurology, temporal lobe epilepsy is an enduring brain disorder that causes unprovoked seizures from the temporal lobe. Temporal lobe epilepsy is the most common type of focal onset epilepsy among adults. Seizure symptoms and b ...
.
She has
chronic fatigue syndrome
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling Chronic condition, chronic illness. People with ME/CFS experience profound fatigue that does not go away with rest, as well as sleep issues and problems with memory ...
and is
intersex
Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...
which plays a role in much of her art.
She is
trans-femme and uses she/her pronouns.
Art
Fauna is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has been exhibited at the
Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, a
Coil-themed exhibition in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, and in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
as well as locally in
Buffalo,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
.
Fauna's artwork utilizes
collage
Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...
, film, painting, photography, and poetry.
Her work includes occult, psychedelia, chaos and spiritual enlightenment.
Animal imagery include deer, foxes, goats, hares, birds, and wolves.
She cites the
Surrealist
Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
s as an influence.
Music
uncertain
In 2007, uncertain began as the solo project of Florian-Ayala Fauna.
Initially, she made
ambient and
drone music
Drone music, drone-based music, or simply drone, is a minimalist genre of music that emphasizes the use of sustained sounds, notes, or tone clusters called '' drones''. It is typically characterized by lengthy compositions featuring relativel ...
with the computer programme
Ableton
Ableton AG is a German music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance program Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries, as well as their own hardware controller Ableton Push. ...
.
Her first album ''glass fawn'' was an ambient soundscape about a deer getting lost.
It often involved
field recording
Field recording is the production of audio recordings outside recording studios, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It can also include the recording of electromagnetic fields or vibrations using diff ...
s, processed sounds, and
tape loop
In music, tape loops are loops of magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound when played on a tape recorder. Originating in the 1940s with the work of Pierre Schaeffer, they were used among ...
s while their current cycle (since 2012) features albums about a family of
fox
Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush").
Twelve species ...
es done with composition,
sampling, and complex music production on Ableton Live and
Kontakt Kontakt may refer to:
* ''Kontakt'' (film), a 2005 Macedonian film directed by Sergej Stanojkovski
* ''Kontakt'' (magazine), a Norwegian political magazine (1947–1954)
* Kontakt (software), a music sampler
* Kontakt-series explosive reactive ar ...
.
Influences include
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...
,
Hermeticism
Hermeticism, or Hermetism, is a philosophical and religious tradition rooted in the teachings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretism, syncretic figure combining elements of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. This system e ...
,
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in p ...
,
Coil,
Current 93
Current 93 are an English experimental music group, founded in 1982 by David Tibet. Much of Current 93's early work was similar to late 1970s and early 1980s industrial music: abrasive tape loops, droning synthesizer noises and Tibet's distorte ...
,
Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, later joined by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of in ...
, and
alchemy
Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...
.
As of 2016, Fauna is the main producer and collaborates with others, primarily with Felix Keigh who is her fiancé and main vocalist.
Live performances
uncertain started doing live performances in 2013.
Cities for live performances have included
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
,
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...
, and
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. However, her chronic fatigue limits touring.
They use visuals such as the use of animal masks, candles, lights, video projections, and ritualistic costumes.
Live shows have included performances alongside TRNSGNDR/VHS.
Collaborations
Fauna has collaborated with former
Coil member
Stephen Thrower (
Cyclobe, UnicaZürn), Esperik Glare's Charlie Martineau (In Serpents and Seas), and others.
Thrower contributed an opening track to her 2016 album ''Dark Night of the Soul''.
She has also frequently done artwork for Swiss
post-industrial music
Industrial music is a form of experimental music which emerged in the 1970s.
In the 1980s, industrial splintered into a range of offshoots, sometimes collectively named post-industrial music. This list details some of these offshoots, including ...
ians and artists Black Sun Productions. Her most recent collaboration was with London-based
industrial hip hop
Industrial hip hop is a fusion genre of industrial music and hip hop.
History
1980s
The origins of industrial hip hop are in the work of Mark Stewart, Bill Laswell, and Adrian Sherwood. In 1985, former The Pop Group singer Mark Stewart relea ...
artist Ubik MCDXCII, providing production work for the track "Rites and Ceremonies" on his album "Blackout Blinds".
Reception
In February 2013,
Orange County, California
Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...
alternative weekly
An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting ...
''
OC Weekly
''OC Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly paper distributed in Orange County and Long Beach, California. It was founded in September 1995 by Will Swaim, who acted as editor and publisher until 2007.
The paper was distributed at coffee shops, ...
''s Dave Barton called ''dancing with the blind (lost children)'' "atmospheric and haunting" and "one of the most evocative titles for an album I've ever heard."
In August 2016, ''The Public''s Cory Perla described both her art and music as "otherworldly."
In March 2017, British music magazine ''
The Quietus
''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics.
Content
''The Quietu ...
''s Russell Cuzner summed up her music as "somehow fulfil
a similar aesthetic to the artist's equally prolific visual art that often depict animal heads
..as if charged with some kind of hidden power, part gothic horror, part Gnostic totem."
In December 2019, ''
Columbus Alive
''Columbus Alive'' (also presented as ''ALIVE''), was a free online news site serving Columbus, Ohio. The site focused on local music, art, dining, film and culture. Formerly distributed in print form each week on Thursdays, the final print vers ...
''s Andy Downing said ''God Is a Man Eater'' was "dense, buzzing, six-track song cycle."
Politics
Fauna supports
anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...
and identifies as an
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
.
Discography
See also
*
List of ambient music artists
This is a list of ambient music artists. This includes artists who have either been very important to the genre or have had a considerable amount of exposure (such as those who have been on a major label). This list does not include little-known ...
*
List of androgynous people
*
List of dark ambient artists
*
List of experimental musicians
This is a list of notable experimental musicians, in alphabetical order by surname.
A–E
* Mohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah – (Egypt) experimental music
*Acid Mothers Temple – Experimental psychedelic rock
* Arca – (Venezuela) Experimenta ...
*
List of noise musicians
The following is a list of artists who make noise music.
A
* Maryanne Amacher
* Anenzephalia
* Astro. "By the early 1990s, recordings by Hijokaidan, Incapacitants, C.C.C.C., Solmania, Masonna, Monde Bruits, Astro, Aube, Government Alpha, Pain ...
*
List of people from Buffalo, New York
*
List of people from Hampton Roads, Virginia
*
List of people from Virginia
This is a list of notable people who were born in the U.S. state of Virginia, were raised or lived in Virginia, or for whom Virginia is a significant part of their identity. Those not born in Virginia are marked with §.
A
* Alden Aaroe ...
*
List of people with chronic fatigue syndrome
*
List of transgender people
*
List of intersex people
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fauna, Florian-Ayala
American ambient musicians
American experimental musicians
American industrial musicians
Artists from Norfolk, Virginia
Intersex non-binary people
Living people
Musicians from Norfolk, Virginia
People with epilepsy
American noise musicians
American transgender musicians
Year of birth missing (living people)
American non-binary musicians
Transgender non-binary people
Intersex musicians
American intersex writers
Transgender people with disabilities
American musicians with disabilities
Intersex transgender people
People with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome