SHOEB AHMAD

SIA AHMAD

Sia Ahmad is many things to the Australian artistic landscape – songwriter, artist, improviser, curator and facilitator. For over a decade, she has brought an outsider’s eye and DIY punk aesthetic to the way she brings communities together, be it through creative collaboration, producing eclectic performance programs or her work running the highly respected hellosQuare label.

Under her birth name Shoeb, Ms Ahmad has been commissioned by the Australian Art Orchestra, CCAS, Parramasala and You Are Here (of course!) to create mixed-media works for their programs whilst as a musician, she has performed throughout Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the UK and the SE Asian region. With a rich and extensive background in Australian music, Sia Ahmad has been creating idiosyncratic sounds over the last decade and more. Using guitar, keyboard, voice and electronics, she works both as singer/composer and improviser, when performing as Shoeb Ahmad, as well as collaborative projects.⁠ Once of acclaimed electronic jazz outfit Tangents and an APRA AMCOS Art Music Award winner, Sia has performed and released a diverse range of original music throughout Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Europe and South Eastern Asia while also working on sound design for dance/theatre, installation pieces and contemporary chamber composition. Her new record as Shoeb Ahmad is titled "double checks against the corner" and was released this year on No Gold, the new label launched by Angus Andrew from Liars. A song cycle that weaves a narrative around relationship breakdown, reconciliation and parenthood, "double checks against the corner" brings together Sia's experimental sound art practice with the purity of honest pop songwriting and deep beat heavy production.