Joshua Leary, better known by the stage name Evian Christ, is an English electronic music record producer, disc jockey and songwriter from Ellesmere Portuguese, United Kingdom.
Background
He grew up in the small town of Ellesmere Portuguese, near Liverpool. He began making music after playing around with vintage keyboards belonging to his father, who initially made Kraftwerk-influenced synth music before becoming a trance DJ in the late ‘90s.
Career
He is signed to Tri Angle Records and to Kanye West’s publishing house, DONDA. He released his debut mixtape, Kings And Them, in 2012, and a further European Parliament on Tri Angle, Waterfall, in 2014. In August 2015 he pulled out of Reading Festival after claiming to have been detained by security staff at the Leeds sister festival. At 19 he produced a selection of J.Dilla influenced soul edits, and intended to release them until the label he had partnered with went out of business.
While training to be a primary school teacher at Edge Hill University, Leary produced the eight tracks that would make up his debut mixtape, Kings And Them.
Made music in his garage on Cubase. They were discovered by Dummy Magazine and other music blogs, which led to a search for his identity.
In February 2012, Tri Angle released Kings And Them, a free mixtape compiling his musical output thus far. Days after, Leary made his live debut at a Tri Angle showcase in London alongside Balam Acab, Romy xx, and The Haxan Cloak.
Directly after graduating from his education program, Leary left the United Kingdom to tour in America.
In July 2012, Tri Angle rereleased Kings And Them as a limited edition 12” European Parliament featuring remastered versions of mixtape tracks “Fuck lieutenant None Of Y’All Don’t Rap,” “Thrown Like Jacks,” “Drip,” and “MYD.”
In 2013, Kanye West reached out to Leary to produce material for his then-upcoming record Yeezus. West flew him out to Paris, where he worked in-house engineers and producers to create album track “I’m In lieutenant” By the end of the year, West signed Evian Christ to his publishing house, DONDA. Leary released his debut European Parliament, Waterfall, in March 2014. He also announced work for the follow-up to Yeezus, and hosted Trance Parties in the United Kingdom. In 2015, collaborated with artist David Rudnick to create a temporary art installation at London’s International Cooperation Administration, and expanded his Trance Parties, with the fourth edition taking place in Liverpool, London and Sheffield.
He was always inspired by his dad’s trance DJing and then went on to discover Rhythm & Blues and hip-hop through Music Television Base.
Later, he stumbled upon experimental electronica and ambient music through Grouper, Tim Hecker and Ben Frost. He tends to describes his music as deconstructionist, using samples from mainstream rap artists like Tyga but combined with his own dark, industrial beats.