Eva Geist

Eva Geist is a project of Andrea Noce, an artist known both for her solo work and her part in the more upbeat/experimental synth duo, As Longitude, together with Laura ODL. Together they also curate a series of sonic collages called FISHES. Andrea, who grew up in the beautiful Calabria region of Southern Italy, also used to be a part of the playful synthpop duo le Rose together with sound artist Flavio Scutti. Listening to Andrea’s music you can feel that it was created by a person with an eclectic, sophisticated and adventurous musical taste. This is clearly manifested in her DJ sets and mixes, which are full of extravagant sonic terrains – new and old, forgotten and rediscovered. Quite frequently you can catch her spinning records in Sameheads, a Berlin underground venue focusing on synth/experimental/DIY music. Under the Eva Geist moniker she paints vast synthesized landscapes of imaginary worlds, where we can trace the elegance of minimal/synth music, fourth world exotica, new age vastness or hazy motorik patterns. As she puts it in her interview for the Scottish newspaper The National: “I wanted my Eva Geist stuff to have beats you can dance to, but soft, abstract ones. It’s inspired by cosmic music, mantra music, New Age music and by film soundtracks.” Her nomadic and exploratory full-length Äquator System, released on the Elestial Sound label, took us on a journey across the dreamy realms of terrestrial and cosmic geographies. Her latest offering, Desfãn, which was released by Macadam Mambo, is of a slightly more intense nature, but a trace of bright melancholy is always present. The record sees Eva Geist turn from space to water and the record has a very organic quality recalling some lost Mediterranean island, where futuristic art deco structures loom next to blue atolls, colorful rocks and wild beaches.

STM 249 is a mesmerizing entry from Eva Geist, exploring the theme of water. The mix has a very organic and conceptually consistent feel, transporting the listener to lands both alien and familiar, at times transporting us to some vintage science fiction movie based on a Jules Verne novel. Most of the tracks reference water in an explicit or implicit way, and the different backgrounds of artists included are skillfully conjoined by the unifying concept. Thus we find such rare gems as the floating Bollicine by Italian pianist Amedeo Tommasi, the solemnly drifting Mar by Carmen or Amazonas by the unsung library music legend Claude Larson. It is also a really pleasant surprise to find Czech shoegazers The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa and their ecstatic and lush Trance (Between The Stars), which intensifies the emotional charge of the selection. These sounds wash over you like a fresh wave from some exotic ocean or a distant tide observed from the top of a dune. The occasionally surfacing rhythmic patterns add some dynamics, but never disrupt the peaceful and contemplative nature of the whole selection. With its bright palette, breezy and minimalist expressionism and sharp geometric elegance, Henri Matisse’s Memory of Oceania could be a fitting visual companion to the mix. So dive into these deep shimmering waters!

In the records

Eva Geist on the mix

This mix is a sonic collage of experimental, ambient, new age and library music inspired by the theme “water”. The first track is “Bollicine” by Amedeo Tommasi, included in the Italian anthology “Biologia Marina” dedicated to the sea world. A soporific flow of soundscapes depicts the element’s changes of state – vapor to water, water to ice, ice to vapor. Carl Gustav Jung wrote that water, in all its forms – sea, lake, river, spring and so on – is the commonest symbol for the unconscious in dreams. Another common symbol for it is the moon, the closest image to water in archetypal representations. Recorded on full moon days, this meditative mix strives to create an oasis of nocturnal stillness and maternal darkness.