aria^CA

aria is the alias of Canadian composer and live performer Dan Driscoll, known for his deep, immersive journeys through bass-driven electronic soundscapes. His hardware-based sets move between organic environments and liminal urban zones, crafting sonic narratives that are as meditative as they are transportive.

Raised within a multidisciplinary arts milieu, Driscoll has long embraced collaboration as a central pillar of his work. His involvement with the audiovisual collective Telefunk Sound System led to projects with Swiss-Canadian filmmaker Peter Mettler and fellow member Steve Richman (Zumba), including the improvised performance piece Momento Mori—a live collaboration with visual artist Dan Browne presented at MUTEK 2013's, alongside Matthew Herbert. Musically, aria is drawn to the tactile possibilities of analog synthesis and the emotive potential of low frequencies. His performances often evolve in real-time, navigating between ambient textures, generative rhythms, and dub-influenced sonic weight.

Driscoll composed the score for the award-winning documentary Manufactured Landscapes, which earned the Best Canadian Film award at TIFF and a Genie Award, and was screened at international festivals including Sundance and Berlinale. Currently exploring new projects at the crossroads of cognition, sound, and real-time visual performance, aria continues to reframe electronic music as an intimate and expanded field of perception.

aria — a fine line between crises and opportunity
Live | World Premiere

aria (aka Dan Driscoll) explores sonic resilience in a fine line between crises and opportunity, a dub-rooted live performance shaped during his recovery from leg amputation. Fusing deep bass, analog FX, breakbeats, and media fragments, he transforms personal adversity into textured soundscapes inspired by dub traditions and the noise of modern disinformation.