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