Photay is Evan Shornstein, a musician from Woodstock, New York who balances analog and digital recordings in a broader mix of organic and synthetic sounds. Inspired by Aphex Twin at an early age, over time he took up the drums, turntablism, music composition, and experiments with field recordings and sampling. The project emerged from a trip to Guinea, West Africa to study drumming that resulted in the self-released Photay EP. The Sadie EP followed in 2016. Inspired by the interplay of nature and technology in a time of climate change and social media addiction, Onism, Photay's full-length debut, arrived in 2017. Two more long-players, Waking Hours and On Hold, arrived in 2020, and the Carlos Niño ambient collaboration An Offering appeared in 2022.