Cindy Li, better known as Ciel, has steadily ascended over the past decade to become one of the best-respected producers and DJs of the international underground. Since throwing her first party in 2015 and putting out her stellar debut EP, Electrical Encounters, on Peach Discs two years later, the Xi’an, China-born and Toronto, Canada-based Ciel has blazed a path as one of the hardest-working and most innovative artists in electronic music. Admirably, her commitment to her craft is matched by her devotion to nurturing and uplifting her local scene through ventures such as Parallel Minds, the Toronto-based label she co-founded with Daniel 58. Year on year, Ciel has levelled up as a producer, DJ and live performer, attracting plaudits and increasingly rewarding opportunities along the way and developing a rich catalog of solo and collaborative work testament to her talent and ingenuity.
Solo production highlights since Electrical Encounters include Hundred Flowers on Coastal Haze, Why Me? on Ghostly’s Spectral Sound, Orlando on !K7 Records, Ecstatic Editions vol. 1, the inaugural compilation on Eris Drew’s vinyl-only reissues label, and her pièce de résistance; the 2023 album Homesick, which also won the prestigious Underground Dance Single of the Year at the 2025 Juno Awards. Featuring tracks based on the eight types of traditional Chinese instruments including “Bamboo”, “String”, “Breath” and “Silk”, the album showcases Ciel’s fondness for curious textures, grounding, nature-inspired samples, and airy, whimsical elements. Equally suited to the dancefloor and the chillout area, Homesick serves as an inspired middle finger to the anti-Chinese racism that spiked during the COVID pandemic. In 2024, Ciel’s triumphant live PA tour of the album included performances in Barcelona, Tokyo and in Montreal, Buenos Aires and Santiago for MUTEK.
Collaboratively, Ciel’s efforts are just as impressive, from the intricate, delicate Free EP with Kilig to the subterranean, propulsive Lunagenesis with Priori as Loopchasers. Excursions in bass and breaks with Dan Only as Cloudsteppers and murky, doofy cuts with CCL (on Tilda’s Goat Stare) and D.Tiffany (as Psychedelic Budz) further demonstrate Ciel’s versatility and seemingly boundless imagination, as do inventive remixes she produced for the likes of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Jacques Greene, Seb Wildblood, Off the Meds and Adam Pits, to name a few.
As an internationally sought-after DJ, Ciel has played at some of world’s most celebrated venues including fabric, Robert Johnson, La Machine du Moulin Rouge, De School, Blitz, Hot Mass, Tresor, Smartbar, Berghain Panorama Bar and Nowadays, and at beloved festivals such as Draaimolen, Dimensions, Love International, Movement Detroit, Bass Coast and MUTEK. After six years, her monthly radio residency on London’s Rinse FM is still going strong, while standout mixes for Resident Advisor, Ilian Tape, Juanita’s, Tim Sweeney’s Beats in Space and Discwoman capture an adventurous selector adept at stitching together different styles and genres in unexpected and consistently engaging ways. A typical DJ set might move through dreamy downtempo, wiggly tech house, psychedelic techno, UK bass, slamming speed garage, and hardgroove to work through a diverse range of dancefloors and moods, from deep and trippy to unabashedly euphoric.
Community-minded and deeply principled, Ciel has always supported and promoted colleagues and causes she believes in, and is currently organizing with Toronto’s chapter of Writers Against the War on Gaza. An outspoken advocate for equity and social justice in electronic music, her values are inextricable from her work as a producer, DJ, label boss and radio host, a quality that endears her to like-minded fans and artists all over the world.
Forthcoming in 2025, Ciel has a collaborative EP with Mathis Ruffing on Spray’s label Punctuality; a compilation made up of Toronto-based artists for Air Texture raising money for Palestine; more live PA shows; and remixes on Banoffee Pies, Flippen Disks and Eterna.
In all, it amounts to a dizzyingly prolific body of work from a one-of-a-kind musician and scene-builder. On and off the dance floor, Ciel continues to make a mark in ways that will be celebrated for many years to come.