Joana de Sá is a young Portuguese audio sound artist who seeks to explore textural sounds, made of field recordings and articulated with minimalist, melodic repetitions and loops played on electric guitar, synthesizer or voice. Lightwaves is already the second album of 22 years old de Sá, following Shatter (Sirr-ecords, 2022), and was made between Porto, de Sá’s hometown Viseu and Lisbon. De Sá also did the sensual cover artwork.

Lightwaves offer five hypnotic, quiet and ethereal soundscapes that reflect de Sá’s personal experiences while listening to these Portuguese places and referring to specific sites within these places. She suggests subtle electroacoustic phenomena with a delicate sense of duration and framed timbral flow, combined with everyday environmental sounds. These soundscapes offer a seductive haven for contemplating or daydreaming about these places and the imagined sonic constructions that mirror these places.

The addition of Louis Wilkinson’s cello on the first, title piece and the whispering voices of Filipa Viegas and Mara Andrade on the last piece are integrated organically into the soundscapes. The last piece «Bubbling over with light» is a homage to the lullaby «Cantiga de Embalar» by late Portuguese folk and protest singer-songwriter Zeca Afonso and introduces an unsettling, resonating aroma to the famous lullaby and to this impressive and suggestive sound work.

Eyal Hareuveni

Joana de Sá (guitar, synthesizer), Louis Wilkinson (cello), Filipa Viegas (voice), Mara Andrade (voice)