Antonina Nowacka is a vocalist and sound artist with a deep interest in the nature of sound and in particular its effect on the nervous system. Polish-born, Nowacka explores the ways through which music can induce the musician and the audience into a specific state of mind. Her voice is a synthesizer, a primary tool of creation that relies on particular vocal techniques influenced by folk and Eastern culture. Air is the central element in Antonina Nowacka’s third solo album Sylphine Soporifera. The title
names an imaginary species and the land they inhabit, inspired by the unreal desert landscape of
Paracas and the undulating tree-less hills of the Outer Hebrides, and comes from the writings of
Rudolf Steiner, describes creatures called Sylphs as the spirits of the air, and the Latin word
sopor which means deep sleep. As with all her releases, Nowacka’s other-worldly vocals coming as if from beyond the veil, at once haunting, alien and utterly entrancing. “The voice is the most beautiful and resonating instrument,” she says. “When I sing I feel I create a field in between myself and the air in front of me,” she explains. “It is not just that I’m singing – something in the space in front of me is happening, and I merge with this sphere.” She conjures and is inspired by open environments and infinite landscapes: places full of light and air, manifested here in the sound of ocarinas from Budrio in Italy, whistles from Mexico, simple bamboo flutes from Nepal, alongside tremulous zithers, synthetic Hawaiian sounds from a vintage organ and the uncanny wind instrument presets from a 90s synth.
LISTEN:
>>https://antoninanowacka.bandcamp.com/
READ:
>>https://www.hhv-mag.com/review/antonina-nowacka-sylphine-soporifera/?lang=en
>>https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/sofie-birch-antonina-nowacka-languoria/
