Biography

It was an embrace of emotionality and subconscious communication that prompted David August's artistic evolution. The Italian-German composer, label-owner, DJ and multi-instrumentalist has been releasing music since he was a teenager in Hamburg, but it took self-evaluation and a re-examination of his priorities for August to lean towards the future and follow his most honest inclinations. In 2023, his output is harder than ever to define, stretching across genres and disciplines to chafe the heart of the human experience. In 2018 he established the 99CHANTS label, a platform that has offered the opportunity to work with esteemed artists like Lena Platonos and Bunita Marcus. 2022's 'Imaginary Landscapes' non-profit compilation was a particular high-point, asking artists KMRU, Kareem Lotfy, Yu Su and others to consider “What does tomorrow sound like?”. When the world went on pause in early 2020, August had the chance to question the role of music and art during a global crisis, and develop his craft more holistically. Diving into study and experimentation, exploring ancient philosophy, mysticism and quantum physics, he began to see himself as an observer rather than the protagonist – attempting to tune in with the unexplainable through sound. Plato's ‘Allegory of the Cave’ gave him the foundation for his ambitious latest undertaking 'VĪS' (Latin: "energy" or "force"), a sprawling multi-disciplinary chronicle that imagines an alternative evolution of mankind through sound.