About

Kayla Painter is an experimental artist and producer.

Painter’s immersive, ever-evolving AV performances, made in collaboration with visual artist Jason Baker, are a natural consequence of the entire writing process – the visuals figure into the earliest stages of her music; 2019 saw her playing at events such as The Great Escape, Camp Elsewhere, Bluedot, and the inaugural edition of Gilles Peterson’s We Out Here festival. She has also crafted remixes for a string of well-regarded acts and labels including W.H. Lung (Melodic Records), Teddy Hunter (Bubblewrap Records) and Scrimshire (Albert's Favourites), as well as appearing on releases by the likes of Jilk (Project Mooncircle), among others.

Supported through Gilles Peterson's ‘Future Bubblers’ talent development program, Kayla has continued to make a lasting impact on key tastemakers in the UK. Her releases have received heavy airplay and features, with spins from Mary-Anne Hobbs, Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft, Nemone and Huw Stephens on BBC 6Music, as well as Phil Taggart (BBC Radio 1) and BBC Introducing. She has written music for Disney, Channel 4, Discovery Channel and a range of independent films, as well as having been commissioned by Universal Publishing to write an EP for synch.

Having grown up a multi-instrumentalist, and playing in more conventional bands at University, Painter’s personal journey led her deeper into electronic music production. Her academic work focuses on the human relationship with sound, and this is reflected in her compositions. She is a passionate explorer of the creative potential within field recording; her compositions bristle with self-sourced timbres captured in an enduring spirit of experimentation. She also uses her platform to explore specific themes both personal and external: 2018’s Cannibals At Sea grappled with her mixed Fijian-British heritage, juxtaposing Pacific islander beliefs with British working class values in a compelling exploration of her own identity and the wider world around her.

Kayla Painter is a visiting lecturer in creative composition and production at University of Gloucester and dBs music. Her teaching branches across a broad range of areas relating to music, including philosophy and political economy.  She additionally runs workshops and sessions for music charities, works as an artist mentor, hosts and takes part in live panel discussions, and offers one to one private tuition.

2020 saw Painter release two acclaimed AA singles (Prey at Night/Blood Orange Beach; Made of Light/Sacrifice the Other), mixes for CRACK Magazine, Selector Radio and Worldwide FM, along an international compilation which is part of a collaboration between Merrie Records in China, Worldwide FM facilitated by British Council and Xintiandi.

2022 Steve Lamacq dubbed Kayla’s new single Balloons in the Arcade “Best New Music” propelling her to regular rotation on 6Music, ahead of the much anticipated UK headline tour.  Also in 2022 Painter opened for Carl Cox at the O2 Academy Leeds, another transformative set from this enigmatic artist, engaging audiences across the spectrum of electronic music. 

Following on from a high profile tour supporting Rival Consoles (Erased Tapes), and the EP release ‘Somewhen’ received much acclaim, with Hannah Peel choosing track “Beginnings from the Sea” as her top track to wind down to on BBC Radio 3.

2023 Saw Kayla invited to create a unique deep listening show supporting KMRU at St Georges, Bristol,  perform with The Black Dog, and Jo Johnson at Manchester's Halle St Peters, opening (DJ) for Nathan Fake, and featured on BBC News as a key artist for the soundtrack to indie documentary ‘What does normal look like’.

Amidst live shows, her developing practice saw self release of AMBIENT OWL CORE (vol.1)  EP following the genre tag #ambientowlcore she coined to fans delight.  Celebrating ambient music with field recordings of owls, AMBIENT OWL CORE sits firmly as a DIY release existing exclusively on Kayla’s Bandcamp. 

Published in Ears to the Ground 2024 (Murphy, Velocity Press) Kayla’s chapter ‘Breathing Life into the Music Kayla Painter’s Adventurous electronics’ celebrates a profile of Kayla’s practice to date written by Ben Murphy, including a section on the story of ‘Ambient Owl Core’.

Kayla continues to host her a popular monthly radio show Connections to Sound, on Resonance Extra.
She also connects with her fans on her subscription page where she posts exclusive releases, tutorials, discussions and more.

Kayla is currently set to release Ambient Owl Core Vol2 (EP) in the summer, followed by her debut album.

Kayla gratefully acknowledges support from PRS Foundation.