Mimi Xu has forged a unique career carving out a name for herself as an acclaimed DJ, producer, performer, musical director, and electronic composer – scoring soundtracks for feature films, fashion films, and catwalks alike – testament to her eclectic and unconventional musical background.
Hailing from a classical and experimental upbringing, inspired by her famed French Chinese father – the acoustic architect Albert Yaying Xu – her passion for the transformative power of sound developed from a young age. Going on to study architecture and journalism, followed by a period spent working for various music labels, she returned to Europe where she developed her DJ career and set up ‘Mimi Xu Studio’ for all original composition work. As a DJ Xu has played for fashion and cultural organisations including Prada, Cartier, Marni, Louis Vuitton, and Dazed & Confused to name a few, and at prestigious events including Art Basel, Cannes Film Festival, Serpentine Gallery Summer Party, Panorama Bar at Berghain, and Movement Festival in Turin.
In addition to these extensive credits Xu continues to push boundaries, creating site-specific mixed media performances at cultural destinations including Meltdown Festival, The Royal Academy of Arts, The Barbican, Gagosian Gallery, Oberlin Conservatory, and collaborating with visual artist Carlota Guerrero and the legendary choreographer Lindsey Kemp; a protégé of Marcel Marceau, who staged Ziggy Stardust, mentored David Bowie and Kate Bush.
In 2017 Xu formed the electronic duo Awkward Moments comprising of Mimi Xu - producer and electronic composer, and MAGUIRE - multi instrumentalist and lead vocalist. The pair layer interweaving electronic beats over organic instruments and atmospheric vocals to mirror the relationship between the tangible and the ethereal; between fragmentation and order. This concept is further explored visually using multimedia projection of abstract moving imagery. In the words of Virginia Woolf - 'I see myself as a fish in a stream; deflected; held in place; but cannot describe the stream.' This is their attempt to recreate that stream of existence through sound experiments and psychedelic visual journeys. Their debut 6 track LP 'An Entropic Cycle' released in March 2020 explores the theory of Eternal Recurrence, probing questions about the cyclical nature of existence, never aiming to repeat, but always returning to the primary concerns of fluidity and transience. They followed this with ’An Entropic Remix EP’ and a track on the k7 compilation album ‘Ambient Layers’. In addition Awkward Moments also host a radio show 'An Entropic Hour' on OpenLab Radio. The duo just released EP1 of an ongoing remix art project entitled ‘Life on Venus – Remixed & Reimagined’ and released their ambient neo-classical album SIX SEASONS in July 2023.
Hailing from a classical and experimental upbringing, inspired by her famed French Chinese father – the acoustic architect Albert Yaying Xu – her passion for the transformative power of sound developed from a young age. Going on to study architecture and journalism, followed by a period spent working for various music labels, she returned to Europe where she developed her DJ career and set up ‘Mimi Xu Studio’ for all original composition work. As a DJ Xu has played for fashion and cultural organisations including Prada, Cartier, Marni, Louis Vuitton, and Dazed & Confused to name a few, and at prestigious events including Art Basel, Cannes Film Festival, Serpentine Gallery Summer Party, Panorama Bar at Berghain, and Movement Festival in Turin.
In addition to these extensive credits Xu continues to push boundaries, creating site-specific mixed media performances at cultural destinations including Meltdown Festival, The Royal Academy of Arts, The Barbican, Gagosian Gallery, Oberlin Conservatory, and collaborating with visual artist Carlota Guerrero and the legendary choreographer Lindsey Kemp; a protégé of Marcel Marceau, who staged Ziggy Stardust, mentored David Bowie and Kate Bush.
In 2017 Xu formed the electronic duo Awkward Moments comprising of Mimi Xu - producer and electronic composer, and MAGUIRE - multi instrumentalist and lead vocalist. The pair layer interweaving electronic beats over organic instruments and atmospheric vocals to mirror the relationship between the tangible and the ethereal; between fragmentation and order. This concept is further explored visually using multimedia projection of abstract moving imagery. In the words of Virginia Woolf - 'I see myself as a fish in a stream; deflected; held in place; but cannot describe the stream.' This is their attempt to recreate that stream of existence through sound experiments and psychedelic visual journeys. Their debut 6 track LP 'An Entropic Cycle' released in March 2020 explores the theory of Eternal Recurrence, probing questions about the cyclical nature of existence, never aiming to repeat, but always returning to the primary concerns of fluidity and transience. They followed this with ’An Entropic Remix EP’ and a track on the k7 compilation album ‘Ambient Layers’. In addition Awkward Moments also host a radio show 'An Entropic Hour' on OpenLab Radio. The duo just released EP1 of an ongoing remix art project entitled ‘Life on Venus – Remixed & Reimagined’ and released their ambient neo-classical album SIX SEASONS in July 2023.