“Sabiwa dances between the line of electronica and ritualism. Her oeuvre is abstraction made sound; a creative amalgamation that weaves together elements from natural and synthetic sources.” – METAL Magazine
Rising Taiwanese sound designer / sonic experimentalist SABIWA joins Phantom Limb for the release of new album Island no. 16 – Memories of Future Landscapes, a strange and beguiling journey through traditional Taiwanese folk musics turned concréte.
In her new album – her first for Phantom Limb – Kaohsiung-born, Berlin-based SABIWA employs bass heavy rhythms, dissected field recordings and exploratory extended vocal technique. Often beginning the compositional process with her own voice and ancient, nature-mimicking musics from the Thau, Bunun, Atayal and other tribespeople of her native Taiwan, SABIWA processes and slices source material beyond recognition, opening sonic pathways to mesmerising, transcendental new dimensions. Glitching samples and indistinguishable language merge with evolving organic texture, forming a strange, dreamlike, transportive unreality. SABIWA’s background in classical and academic music (she has played the cello since childhood) also shines through, lending a deep and engaging musicality to the brainmelting psychedelics of the record.
SABIWA is an experimental electronic producer and audio-visual performer. She tells us that her first introduction to recorded music was inside an aquarium. She produces, records and dissects sounds from natural and synthetic sources, making them interact with complex texture and abstract patterns, also using her voice processed as a guiding path in her compositions. She also curates live visuals for her performances. She has composed soundtracks for art performance and film, collaborating with numerous artists and musicians. SABIWA works between Berlin, Taipei and Copenhagen as an audio-visual producer.
released April 14, 2023