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FISHER — the stage name of Australian DJ and music producer Paul Nicholas Fisher. Before beginning his solo career, he was a professional surfer and a member of the electronic duo Cut Snake. The artist gained international recognition with Losing It, released in 2018 and nominated for a Grammy Award. His music is primarily based on house and tech house.
Early years and professional surfing
Paul Fisher grew up on Australia’s Gold Coast, one of the country’s major surfing centres. Before moving into the music industry, he competed professionally and travelled extensively as part of his surfing career. DJing initially developed around the parties and trips associated with the international surfing community.
For some time, music and sport developed in parallel. Fisher began DJing in the mid-2000s and later moved into producing his own tracks. He played club music while travelling through Australia, Indonesia and the United States, gradually developing an interest in house.
Fisher’s surfing background primarily influenced his professional connections. Through this environment, he met Leigh Sedley, another Australian surfer who became his partner in his first notable music project.
Cut Snake
In the early 2010s, Paul Fisher and Leigh Sedley, also known as Sedz, formed the duo Cut Snake. The name comes from the Australian expression mad as a cut snake, used to describe a person or situation with extremely uncontrollable energy.
Cut Snake worked mainly with house and tech house. Fisher and Sedley performed in Australia, the United States and Bali, while their studio work drew on the experience of club trips connected with surfing. The project helped Fisher develop his production skills, touring experience and ability to construct extended club sets.
Over time, the members’ musical directions began to diverge. Leigh Sedley continued developing Cut Snake, while Fisher focused on his solo project. The first official releases under the name FISHER appeared in 2017.
Beginning of the solo career
FISHER’s solo debut was the single Ya Kidding, released on June 30, 2017, through Dirtybird. Before its official release, the track was played in sets by Dirtybird founder Claude VonStroke and producer Justin Martin.
Ya Kidding marked a transition from the deeper sound of Cut Snake to minimalist tech house. The track is built around a repeating bassline, dry percussion and a short vocal fragment. This arrangement principle later became the foundation of many of FISHER’s best-known tracks.
During the same period, he released Stop It and Ya Didn’t, both included on the Oi Oi EP. These releases strengthened the artist’s association with Dirtybird, one of the key American tech-house labels of the 2010s.
Losing It
FISHER’s international breakthrough came in 2018 with the release of Losing It. Issued through Catch & Release, the track became one of the most prominent house records of the late 2010s.
The arrangement of Losing It is based on a cyclical bassline, a short horn signal and a gradual build-up of tension. Unlike festival EDM with a pronounced melodic climax, the track is constructed almost entirely around rhythm and the repetition of a small number of elements.
The track topped both the Australian ARIA Club Chart and the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and received platinum certification in Australia. The success of Losing It demonstrated that tech house could reach beyond a specialised club audience without moving into a conventional pop format.
At the 61st Grammy Awards, the track was nominated for Best Dance Recording. It remains FISHER’s only Grammy nomination; that year, the award went to Electricity by Silk City and singer Dua Lipa.
Catch & Release
Losing It was released through FISHER’s own label, Catch & Release, which later became the central brand of his solo career. Through it, the artist releases music, organises events and presents other producers working in house and tech house.
FISHER’s main solo releases on Catch & Release include:
- Losing It
- You Little Beauty
- Freaks
- Wanna Go Dancin’
- Just Feels Tight
- TAKE IT OFF
- Atmosphere
- the artist’s subsequent club singles
In FISHER’s 2025 DJ Mag profile, he is explicitly identified as the head of Catch & Release. In addition to releasing music, the brand is used for club parties and festival stages.
You Little Beauty
In 2019, FISHER released You Little Beauty. The track uses a vocal sample from Loleatta Holloway’s song Love Sensation. The producer retained the rhythmic foundation associated with Losing It but made the vocal fragment the central element of the track.
You Little Beauty topped the Australian club chart and was nominated for Best Dance Release at the ARIA Music Awards. The award in that category went to RÜFÜS DU SOL’s album Solace.
Therefore, claims that FISHER won an ARIA Music Award are incorrect. The artist received two nominations:
- for Losing It in 2018
- for You Little Beauty in 2019
In both cases, the awards went to other artists.
Freaks and Wanna Go Dancin’
In 2020, FISHER released a double single containing Freaks and Wanna Go Dancin’. These tracks continued the minimalist tech-house direction of his early solo discography.
Freaks uses a short vocal command around which the bassline and gradually introduced rhythmic elements are built. Wanna Go Dancin’ is closer to classic vocal house and is based on the repeated use of its title phrase.
Just Feels Tight
Following a break in solo releases, the single Just Feels Tight appeared in July 2021. The track continued the familiar structure of his production: a short vocal sample, an elastic bassline and subtle arrangement changes designed for extended club mixing.
Instead of complex melodic sequences, FISHER uses microdynamics: he gradually removes and reintroduces drums, changes the density of the percussion and delays the return of the main bass pattern. This approach distinguishes his music from big room and progressive house.
It’s a Killa and World Hold On
In 2022, FISHER released It’s a Killa with the Dutch duo Shermanology. The track combines the producer’s club rhythms with a complete vocal performance and demonstrates a more song-oriented side of his catalogue.
The same year saw the release of his reworking of World Hold On (Children of the Sky), the Bob Sinclar track featuring vocals by Steve Edwards. FISHER retained the original’s recognisable chorus while rebuilding the composition around a contemporary tech-house groove.
The use of well-known house tracks and pop vocals became a notable feature of his later releases.
TAKE IT OFF and Atmosphere
In 2023, FISHER released two vocal tracks that became widely played in club sets.
TAKE IT OFF was recorded with artist Aatig and released on June 9, 2023. Aatig is credited as a full participant in the release rather than only as a featured vocalist.
In August, FISHER released Atmosphere, created with Australian singer Kita Alexander. The track is built around a more extensive vocal performance and combines tech house with elements of vocal house and dance-pop.
These releases showed a change in FISHER’s studio approach. While his early singles were based mainly on short spoken samples, the vocals in TAKE IT OFF and Atmosphere became independent parts of the song structure.
Under Construction with Chris Lake
FISHER’s collaboration with British producer Chris Lake occupies a separate place in his career. Their joint live project is called Under Construction.
Under Construction initially existed as a series of B2B performances in the United States. In 2019, FISHER and Chris Lake held three joint events and later expanded the format into large festival and city shows.
In 2023, the project was presented at Coachella, after which the artists performed on a closed section of Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Under Construction later appeared at Phoenix Raceway, Ultra Music Festival and Parklife.
The live programme is built around alternating tracks by both producers, unreleased material and collaborative edits. Under Construction nevertheless remains primarily a performance format rather than a permanent studio duo.
Somebody
In February 2024, Gotye, FISHER and Chris Lake released a new electronic version of Somebody That I Used to Know. The official title of the release is Somebody, with Kimbra and Sante Sansone also credited as featured artists.
The new version retained vocal fragments from the original song by Gotye and Kimbra but received a shorter structure and a house arrangement. The release became one of the few cases in which FISHER and Chris Lake’s studio collaboration was issued as an official joint single.
Other 2024 releases
In 2024, FISHER continued releasing club collaborations and remixes. His catalogue expanded with:
- Boost Up with Flowdan
- Ocean with AR/CO
- a remix of Jamming by Bob Marley & The Wailers
- a remix of Waiting for Tonight by Jennifer Lopez
- Somebody with Gotye and Chris Lake
This period is distinguished by a broader use of vocals. However, the arrangements remain based on house rhythms, cyclical basslines and short instrumental transitions.
Releases from 2025 to 2026
In 2025, FISHER released the singles Stay and Blackberries, the latter recorded with singer bbyclose. DJ Mag also highlighted Blackberries among the artist’s main works during the season of his Ibiza residency.
His 2026 releases include:
- Rain
- Favour
- What a Life with Florence Arman
What a Life was released on June 26, 2026, and became one of FISHER’s most song-oriented works: the vocal performance occupies the central position, while the club rhythm serves as accompaniment.
Despite the increased role of vocals, the artist continues to release mainly standalone singles. His official catalogue does not yet include a full-length solo studio album.
Ibiza
Ibiza is an important part of FISHER’s touring career. In 2019, he participated in the Bodyworks residency at Hï Ibiza alongside CamelPhat and Solardo.
The artist later received his own weekly programmes on the island. In 2025, his residency took place on Thursdays at [UNVRS] Ibiza. The production included unconventional entrances into the DJ booth and became one of the central elements of his season.
FISHER’s connection with Ibiza is not limited to festival-style appearances. His extended club residencies allow him to build longer house sets that differ from the shortened programmes performed on major festival stages.
Festivals and major performances
FISHER has performed at Coachella, Tomorrowland, Ultra Music Festival, EDC, Creamfields, Electric Forest, Untold and other international festivals.
It would be inaccurate to describe him as a permanent headliner at every one of these events, as his position in the programme depends on the specific year and edition. However, since the late 2010s, FISHER has regularly received prominent slots on major house and EDM festival stages.
In 2026, he was included in the kineticFIELD Mainstage programme for the anniversary edition of EDC Las Vegas.
Musical style
FISHER’s main genres are house and tech house. Progressive house is not a defining direction in his music, while the term “groove house” does not refer to an established genre classification. DJ Mag also identifies his style as house.
His tracks are characterised by:
- cyclical basslines
- dry, pronounced drums
- short vocal commands or phrases
- a minimal number of melodic elements
- the gradual addition and removal of percussion
- pauses before the return of the main groove
- a structure suited to club mixing
FISHER’s music differs noticeably from big room EDM. Instead of a large synthesiser drop, he focuses on rhythm, bass and subtle changes within a repeating pattern.
In later works, including TAKE IT OFF, Atmosphere, Stay and What a Life, complete vocal performances became more important. However, the producer retains a direct house rhythm and does not move fully into pop music.
Stage format
FISHER’s performances are built around house and tech-house sets, but his stage behaviour differs significantly from a restrained club model. He actively uses the microphone, dances behind the decks and maintains constant contact with the audience.
This style is connected with the experience of surfing trips and early Cut Snake parties. However, in an encyclopaedic biography, his stage presentation should not be replaced with generic claims about “incredible charisma”. FISHER’s professional significance is defined primarily by his club releases, his own label, his residencies and the scale of his performances.
Grammy, ARIA and DJ Mag
FISHER’s main industry achievement is the nomination of Losing It for Best Dance Recording at the 2019 Grammy Awards. The artist has not won a Grammy.
He was nominated twice for Best Dance Release at the ARIA Music Awards but did not win:
- Losing It — 2018
- You Little Beauty — 2019
FISHER debuted in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs ranking in 2019 at number 63. In 2025, he climbed to seventh place and received the additional title World’s No. 1 House DJ. The ranking is determined through an open public vote and reflects the artist’s popularity among listeners rather than serving as an expert assessment of production quality.
Main FISHER releases
- Ya Kidding — 2017
- Stop It — 2017
- Ya Didn’t — 2017
- Crowd Control — 2018
- Losing It — 2018
- You Little Beauty — 2019
- Freaks — 2020
- Wanna Go Dancin’ — 2020
- Just Feels Tight — 2021
- It’s a Killa — with Shermanology, 2022
- World Hold On (Children of the Sky) — FISHER Rework — 2022
- TAKE IT OFF — with Aatig, 2023
- Atmosphere — with Kita Alexander, 2023
- Somebody — with Gotye and Chris Lake featuring Kimbra and Sante Sansone, 2024
- Boost Up — with Flowdan, 2024
- Ocean — with AR/CO, 2024
- Stay — 2025
- Blackberries — with bbyclose, 2025
- Rain — 2026
- Favour — 2026
- What a Life — with Florence Arman, 2026
FISHER today
FISHER continues to combine single releases, management of Catch & Release, international festival appearances and extended club residencies. His career can be divided into three main stages: his work in Cut Snake, his solo breakthrough with Losing It, and the expansion of the project through Catch & Release and Under Construction.
His contribution to the contemporary house scene is connected with bringing minimalist tech-house production back into major festival and commercial spaces. Losing It became the key recording in this process, while later releases demonstrated how the same rhythmic approach could be combined with pop vocals, rap and complete vocal performances.
