On her debut EP, Mia Lily showcases a fascinating mixture of contrasting sounds

2025 has been a big year for Mia Lily. Having released her debut EP Hydrated But Drunk in October, the London-based DJ now has her own artistic statement out in the world. A project that ranges from calming tranquility to much darker, sprawling electronic sounds, this collection of songs features a whole range of different feelings upon listening.

Standout tracks such as ‘Camomile Dub’ show the signs of an artist learning how to take the listener on a journey of sound, with its hypnotic beat slowly becoming surrounded by more and more textures, immersing you fully in its spell. There’s clearly a deep love of a lot of minimal electronic and adjacent genres poured into the EP, which make sense given her family having roots in jazz, classical and electronic.

Lily also has regular radio residencies and has done mixes for stations such as Foundation FM, BBC Radio 1Xtra and Rinse FM. This is only really the start of the story for her as an artist, and you can listen to the debut EP from Mia Lily here:

We caught up with Mia to talk about Hydrated But Drunk, her Northern roots and growing between UK and Hong Kong culture.

Hi Mia, congratulations on the release of your recent debut EP ‘Hydrated But Drunk’, what do you feel this project represents about you?

"Thank you, I’m so gassed to be making and releasing music. Ahh that’s an interesting question! I guess in hindsight, it’s a time stamp and exploration of thoughts I was having when I wrote them. I wanted each track to feel different so I didn’t get pigeonholed into one genre. I’m very influenced by a wide variety of music and wanted that to come through in this EP."

You’ve said before that this EP represents what you’re listening to day in, day out as opposed to representing your live sets, would you say that it’s more nostalgic or contemporary sounds you’re pulling from?

"I’d say it’s both. There’s a big chunk of nostalgic sounds that have influenced me but also equally contemporary. The contemporary artists that I am listening to are creating fusions of genres from old and new. They both lean into each other. But I’d say if I had to choose it’d be music from the 90s / 00s as this is what I was listening to growing up."

In terms of the energy of your live sets, how do they set themselves apart from your recorded work?

"With a live set, I like to bounce off the energy in the room and be on a level with the audience. Having spent so much time on the dance floor, I love being able to give back. It’s not always easy though, and sometimes you’re just not up for it. I was playing a close earlier this year at Village Underground and I was feeling pretty unwell and didn’t feel up to it at all, but when I got there my whole mood shifted and I was able to lock in with the audience from the energy that they brought to the room."

"It ended up being one of my favourite sets of the year. That’s a really special feeling, being able to experience that journey with people and also being able to provide a sense of escapism. But it’s different when you’re making music alone. I’m not thinking about who my audience will be whilst I’m writing it, so it becomes much more introspective and personal. I’m not really making music for the club right now, so maybe that energy will shift if I start writing tracks for the dance floor."

The artwork for the EP is absolutely beautiful, what did you want it to represent? Is it a nod to your Hong Kong roots?

"It’s amazing isn’t it, I’m so chuffed with how it turned out. James Lacey (Pointless Illustrations) did the artwork, he did me proud. I wanted the artwork to reflect duality. The whole EP is meant to be a juxtaposition on contrasting thoughts and feelings (hence the name). I wanted there to be a lightness and darkness and a surreal like quality. There’s lots of symbolism and illustrative elements too that nod towards moments, locations and reflections."

"The lucky cat is a good luck symbol and a nod to Hong Kong. The rollercoaster represents the ups and downs of the journey I was having at the time and of course Blackpool. The spilt can and water in the desert symbolises unsatisfied thirst and also references California where I spent a bit of time in 2023. That’s what it meant to me at least. But like the music, I wanted to leave it up to interpretation for the audience to decide for themselves what they see in it."

You’ve grown up between both Hong Kong and UK cultures, what impact do you think having both of them prevalent in your life has had on you both as a person and an artist?

"I think there’s an acceptance and celebration of differences when being raised between cultures that invites you to have an openness and understanding towards others. That and being northern! Haha. I’d like to think that I carry this into my music too, I never want to feel trapped in one lane. My influences come from everywhere and everything that I experience. I think it’s really important to stay inspired by lots of different avenues, otherwise we’d all create the same sounds and it’d be very boring."

You’re originally from Blackpool and you did a show with Mura Masa there earlier this year as part of a series of events highlighting local subcultural scenes. What was Blackpool’s impact on you and how did it help make you the artist you are today?

"There wasn’t really an underground electronic scene in Blackpool when I was growing up, and there weren’t many opportunities. That was one of the reasons why we decided to put an event on there. However, there were a tonne of nightclubs. The Syndicate was the first place I snuck into at 15, Gatecrasher and Cream used to run events there, that was where my love for Trance came from."

"It wasn’t easy growing up in Central Blackpool, there’s a lot of crime and poverty so music served as an escapism for a lot of us. My brother’s best friend Ant used to run a radio station above a pub near the Prom and we used to hang out there on the weekends. That’s where I learned the basics in DJing. They were always really encouraging of me to jump on the decks, as they knew I loved music. It felt like a real community."

Music runs in the family, and it led to you learning the piano from a young age. We see your skill with the instrument right from the off on ‘Unlocked Prelude’, was that an intentional reference to where your musical journey started?

"No it wasn’t actually, but I can see why you’d think that. However, I did want to write a type of prelude piano piece as an introduction as it felt like it made sense to open up a body of work with something a bit slower. I’ve always wanted to fuse electronic sounds with my keys too so I also just wanted to see if that would work." 

You moved to London over a decade ago, how have you integrated yourself in the music scene there? 

"I’m a Graphic Designer in my day job and when I first moved to London, I met lots of friends through raving. Some of them ran parties, so I started doing graphics for their events. SISU crew was one of the collectives I used to do the graphics for and eventually became one of the DJs on their roster. At that time, there were always decks around, either at parties or house shares that I lived in so I’d often jump on and have a spin."

"A few years later I started going to open decks nights at my local at the time, Canavans in Peckham where I met a bunch of people. I met my old DJ duo partner there. After that, I was invited to do guest mixes and cover radio shows and eventually ended up having three radio shows a month across Balamii, Foundation FM and Threads. The bookings started from there really. It was pretty organic to be honest, I never really thought I’d DJ much outside of my bedroom!" 

In a social media post about your debut EP you described the technical side as “humbling”. Acknowledging that you still have learning to do, there’s a refreshing sense of openness to that. Is it exciting that you will be able to look back at this project in the future and see it as a jumping off point for the rest of your career?

"I hope so! I definitely have a lot of learning to do. I feel like I’m very much in my infancy with production but I’m excited to keep growing and finding my sound. I’m very selective with the textures and sounds that I choose and spend time adjusting them in Pigments or Serum. I think my EP has a rawness which I hope comes across. I imagine that in years to come, I’ll probably look back at it with more of a technical lens, but I hope that I am still able to capture a sense of openness to whatever I’ll be making in 20 years time. If I’m honest though, I think if I was left to my own devices, I would’ve been too precious and probably wouldn’t even have music out yet. So I have my manager Terry to thank for that. She’s massively encouraged me and given me confidence to release this EP."

One of the real highlights from the EP for me is ‘Camomile Dub’, it has this really calming, meditative effect to it, yet is also evolving constantly too. Is it a skill to learn how to take people on a journey like that through the melody?

"Ahh, it makes me really happy to hear that, as one of the elements I struggle with mostly is the arrangement of tracks. So it’s reaffirming to hear that they’re making sense. It’s something that I think a lot about with my DJ sets but I’m learning to with my production. I tend to write an 8 or 16 bar loop with all the elements I want in it and build backwards from there, but I’m very open to new processes at the moment. On the meditative front, you’ve hit the nail on the head for me."

"I listen to a YouTube channel every day called Drift Deeper which is on 24/7 and only plays Dub Techno. If you like 'Camomile Dub', you might like that channel too, it’s incredibly meditative and calming. I think I’ve subconsciously taken some of that energy into my work as I listen to Dub Techno every day. I show my dad my demos and sketches sometimes, he says that the calmer ones match my personality most. So I think you’ll probably hear a lot more of those from me!"

What can you tell us about the recording process, it was completed in 2024, right? What do you feel you learnt about your artistry during the process?

"The tracks were written at the back of a difficult time in 2024 for me. I remember being at a real low point when my dad encouraged me to channel it into my music. So I did just that. It felt incredibly cathartic and good to release energy. The hardest part for me was the vocals. Originally I wanted a proper vocalist but I ended up just doing it myself out of ease. I’m still not 100% happy with them, but I probably never will be! The curse of being an artist. You’re never fully happy with what you put out whether that’s graphics or music. At some point you just need to let go, move on and keep learning."

Mia has also made a playlist of tracks which have soundtracked her everyday life, the sounds of which have surely bled into her sound. Titled ‘Day In, Day Out’, you can listen to it here:

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Header image credit : Graybrame (Instagram)