Photay

Evan Shornstein, known professionally as Photay, is an American electronic musician, composer, drummer, and producer from Woodstock, New York. While studying at Purchase College, Shornstein traveled to Guinea to study drumming, which influenced his musical style. His debut album 1st was self-released in 2012, followed by the EP Photay on Astro Nautico in 2014. Photay gained recognition with several remixes for Ninja Tune and released his first full-length album Onism in 2017, featuring Madison McFerrin. In subsequent years, he released albums such as Waking Hours (2020) and On Hold (2020), the latter featuring samples of telephone hold music. Photay's most recent work includes the album Windswept (2024) and its expanded version Windswept: Expansions (2025), which features two additional tracks, "Jet Stream" and "Aeolian," and a remix of "Air Lock." Throughout his career, Shornstein has collaborated with various artists, including Sam O.B. on the musical project "Ensemble Entendu."