Stefana Fratila Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield 2 Items

Gatefold Green Vinyl Double LP with design by Dian Vandermeulen, the popular Canadian visual artist

(limited edition cassette version will be released by Not Not Fun).

Between December 2018 and 2019, Stefana Fratila embarked on a series of research trips across North America (including to Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Nasa Goddard Space Centre), meeting with astronomers and scientists in order to address a complex question: “If each planet in our solar system were a different room, what would each room sound like?”

Her ongoing creative research culminated in Sononaut, eight open-source VST plug-ins created for digital audio workstations (DAWs) that emulate the atmospheric conditions of the planets in our solar system (made in collaboration with artist and coder Jen Kutler, using calculations by Nasa astronomer and planetary scientist Dr. Conor Nixon).

Her forthcoming album I want to leave this Earth behind is the sonic extension of her creative research.

In her own words: “The album is conceptual, in that it centres on outer space exploration and my understanding of 'Crip futurity'. My vision is for the album to engage listeners in an exercise of imagining the sounds of interplanetary atmospheres– conditions which are inherently unlivable, unbreathable, converting all human body-minds into disabled-bodied-ness. Since I identify as Crip, or disabled, this idea deeply resonates with me. I am the first artist (a disabled producer/musician, no less) to have worked with Nasa researchers on a sonic imagining of the solar system’s atmospheres that incorporates real scientific data. If we are all 'disabled' in (or by) outer space, my music is concerned with propelling all listeners into space, leaving Earth behind them, through my music.”

The solar system’s planetary bodies are inherently prohibitive even in regards to Earth’s most ‘able-bodied’ subjects. Her project seizes upon a form of radical agency and science-fictive ambition, placing all human subjects within new worlds, into the interplanetary bodies of our solar system, through her own sonic imaginings.

The album will be released by Toronto-based label Halocline Trance (Casey MQ, myst milano, ACT!).

During a 2019 residency at Cmmas (Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras) in Morelia, Mexico, Fratila began writing the album on an octophonic sound system (8 planets = 8 speakers).

Afterwards, from her home studio in Toronto, she recorded additional synthesizer parts, finalized arrangements, and incorporated Sononaut (her 8 solar system VST plug-ins) into the album’s production. The album was recorded, written, and produced by Fratila. She worked with mixing engineer Jeremy Greenspan (Jessy Lanza, Caribou, Junior Boys), as well as mixing engineer Lisa Conway and mastering engineer Sage Kim.

Underlining each track is a five-minute soundscape representing the weather on that planet, based on Fratila’s research at Nasa. The weather patterns are interwoven with layers of synths and time-stretched samples.

There are very few disabled femme electronic artists gaining exposure in Canada today.

Between December 2018 and 2019, Canadian composer Stefana Fratila went on a series of research trips throughout North America – including to Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Nasa Goddard Space Flight Centre – to meet with astronomers and scientists to answer a complex question: “If each planet in our solar system were a room, what would each room sound like?” Her findings culminated in Sononaut, a collection of open-source VST plug-ins for digital audio workstations emulating each astral body’s atmospheric conditions. (Artist Jen Kutler collaborated on the project as well, using calculations by Nasa astronomer and planetary scientist Dr. Conor Nixon). During a residency at Cmmas (Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras) in Morelia, Mexico, Fratila began writing the album on an octophonic sound system, then added additional synthesizer, finalized arrangements, and incorporated Sononaut at her home studio in Toronto. The results are surreal, expansive, multi-colored, and mesmerizing. I want to leave this Earth behind is an odyssey of cosmic voyaging and technological innovation, fusing science, sound design, and stargazer reverie into eight cosmic portraits of our vast galactic family.