Claire Rousay

Ordinary surroundings become raw material in Claire Rousay's work, which assembles field recordings of everyday sounds into musique concrète pieces. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Canadian-American composer moved to San Antonio, Texas, as a child and is now based in Los Angeles. She captures those sounds on a Zoom H5 Handy Recorder, and her music has been described as experimental and "emo ambient", a pairing that hints at how personal her material feels.

Rousay started with piano lessons from her mother, a professional pianist, at three, and later played drums at church events before leaving high school at 15 to become a solo percussionist. Her catalogue took shape with It Was Always Worth It (2020) on Longform Editions, followed in 2021 by A Softer Focus on American Dreams, a collaboration with San Antonio visual artist Dani Toral. Everything Perfect Is Already Here came out in 2022, and she has made numerous joint albums with her close friend Mari Maurice, who records as More Eaze. She signed with Thrill Jockey in 2023 and released Sentiment in April 2024, while Wouldn't Have to Hurt (2022) donated its proceeds to The Trevor Project.