15 questions with...Suki Sou

Musician, sound designer and radio presenter Suki Sou may have a studio full of bespoke hardware and software that denotes a precision-based mindset, but she’s also big on adaptability. And her music – influenced by everyone from Raymond Scott to Joanna Brouk, Aphex Twin to Teresa Teng – puts that multifaceted approach on show

Suki Sou was born in Macau, to a Burmese father and half-Japanese, half-Chinese mother whose philosophy when bringing Suki up was very much to throw her in at the deep end: “My parents sent me to a Catholic boarding school in Berkshire to study when I was eight years old. I travelled to the UK on my own with just a dictionary; my mother’s theory was that I needed to learn the language by myself, without anyone’s help.”

This DIY attitude stuck, and with some influence from her electronics engineer father, Sou developed a fascination with synths and software. She has now married some of the best of both into a jaw-dropping studio in which she composes an eclectic mix. It’s music that she describes as ‘neo-morning electronica, kosmische and proto-techno’. She has a refreshing ‘no rules’ philosophy, doesn’t strive for perfection (“it can blind the bigger picture”) and has some of the best advice in her replies to the 15 Questions that we’ve seen. Read on for advice on the ‘minefield’ that is Pure Data, and recording the thud of soft jelly…

1 How did you start out in music in the first place?

Suki Sou: “It all started with my mother’s encouragement to learn the piano for its cognitive benefits [laughs]. But once I got into music, I got really into sound and how it could take me places. I started messing around with field recordings, foley and electronic instruments to create a sonic palette that puts the listener right in the middle of the action.