Zanias aka Alison Lewis is an independent Australian producer, vocalist, composer, DJ and occasional video artist, currently based in Berlin. 

She is best known as the voice of the band Linea Aspera, which was her very first music project spawned in 2011 in London with synth enthusiast and composer Ryan Ambridge. The band was formed while Lewis was studying archaeology at UCL, and the influence of the discipline can be heard in the lyrics of their debut album, which was released on Dark Entries Records in 2012.

After Linea Aspera went on hiatus in 2013, Lewis began working with Sid Lamar of Schwefelgelb in the band Keluar and relocated to Berlin. Keluar’s most notable release ‘Panguna’ was released on the French label Zone, run by the Hacker and Gesaffelstein, in 2015.

In 2014 she began producing music herself under the name ‘Zanias’ and released her first single ‘Follow the Body’, co-produced with Alex Akers of Forces, in September, 2016. The music video was filmed on an iPhone 5 in the sand dunes of Leba, Poland, and became a semi-viral success. The following EP, ‘To the Core’, brought Zanias to the attention of the well respected techno DJ and producer Dax J, who reached out to Zanias to remix ‘Follow the Body’ and subsequently requested a vocal collaboration on his album ‘Offending Public Morality’. Another techno heavyweight and former Berghain resident DJ, Kobosil, also requested to remix ‘Follow the Body’. In 2019 ‘Follow the Body’ was also listed in Post-Punk.com's top songs of the decade.

The years 2016-2019 were characterised by further collaborations with the likes of Ancient Methods, I Hate Models and the side-project of Tommy Four Seven, These Hidden Hands. It was during this time that she co-founded her own record label, Fleisch Records, which has since released music by artists such as Schwefelgelb, Kontravoid, Infravision, Fractions and Kris Baha. She also released her first full-length album ‘Into the All’ on Candela Rising in 2018.

Lewis toured the world during this time under the name Zanias both as a live act and a well-respected DJ, performing at notable locations such as Berlin’s Tresor Club, Berghain/Panoramabar and Astra, London’s FOLD, Razzmatazz in Barcelona, Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, Synth Fest in Mexico City, Warehouse Elementenstraat in Amsterdam, La Machine du Moulin Rouge in Paris, Tyrolen in Alvesta (Sweden), Volnost in Seoul and Oil Club in Shenzhen. She also made a guest appearance with the American experimental music project Black Rain at the Bozar Electronic Arts Festival in Brussels in 2017, and hosted a monthly radio show on Berlin Community Radio from 2017-2019 via Fleisch Records.

In 2020, despite the challenges of the covid-19 pandemic, Zanias released two EPs on Fleisch Records titled ‘Extinction’ and ‘Harmaline’, the former of which was re-pressed on vinyl four times to keep up with heavy demand. 2020 also so the reformation of Linea Aspera and the release of their second full-length album, LP2.

Never resting for long, the second Zanias album ‘Unearthed’, was released on Fleisch Records in 2021, described by the independent music publication I Die, You Die as “An engaging portrait of one of the most notable figures in modern dark music at their most unambiguous”.

Since the pandemic, Zanias has toured extensively with her live solo project and Linea Aspera, as well as with DJ performances, through Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia. She released a further two full-length albums on Fleisch and Metropolis Records, 2023’s, ‘Chrysalis’ and 2024’s ‘Ecdysis’. The former was described in a Post-Punk.com headline as an “Ethereal Pop Opus”.

In 2025 she will release her fifth album titled ‘Cataclysm’, which promises to be a genre-defying journey through revolution and catharsis. After many years of performing solo as Zanias, she now performs live with the addition of drummer Dream Dilate Decay, in a dramatic and ritualistic performance that exemplifies the power of her vocals.

Never compromising on her vision or independence, Lewis continues to forge new sounds from her varied influences, spanning from Enya to Fever Ray to Type O Negative. With a fanbase that has remained loyal through many shifts in sound, she now moves forward with even greater confidence.