Just don’t call it ambient, please. Italian vocalist and sound artist Sara Persico is at the controls for SonarMix 064, which walks us through her interlocking sonic worlds ahead of the Spanish debut of Sphaîra - her collaborative audiovisual show with Mika Oki - at Sónar by Day 2025. Modern classical, field recordings, trip hop, downtempo, experimental electronics of all kinds… you’ll find it all here.
It’s a look into the soundscapes that inspire her radical, experimental sonics, as heard on her debut album Sphaîra, released on renowned Berlin-via-Bristol experimental label Subtext earlier this year. Using recordings she made inside the domed structure of the Experimental Theatre, an Oscar Niemeyer designed auditorium that’s part of the abandoned and unfinished Rachid Karami International Fair in Tripoli (a city in the north of Lebanon), she immerses listeners in a world of echoes and voices, tinted by street noise, the sounds of call to prayer and even wildlife.
Here, she treats us to a different, but equally immersive experience, exploring parallel and contrasting worlds. Swooning strings meet warped beats, hisses and hums become deafening drones, chopped and screwed voices give way to bucolic field recordings. Equal parts arresting and atmospheric, it’s a sonic self-portrait of one of the most interesting experimental artists around.
Tracklist:
Mica Levi - slob air
Lucy Railton - Blush Study
KMRU - Natur 1
Sara Persico - Blue Box
Youmna Saba - Ba’oud
Akira Umeda - Gueixa (excerpt)
Hesaitix - Geflatnet
Nzʉmbe - Zone of Alienation
Saint Abdullah & Eomac - The people who initiate a new world
Roly Porter - Accelerated Cycle
Sara Persico - 34°26’14”N 35°49’24”E