Astrid Sonne

Astrid Sonne is a Danish composer and viola player, based in London.

Her expression moves freely within the realm of electronic experiments side by side with melodic curiosity and baroque approaches, and improvised passages are incorporated into precise compositions with intuitive grace.

Her most recent studio album “Great Doubt” was released January 26 2024 on danish label Escho. Throughout her acclaimed discography (“outside of your lifetime” 2021 (Escho), “Cliodynamics” (2019) and “Human Lines” (2018))  Astrid Sonne has been carefully crafting different moods through electronic and acoustic instrumental endeavours. On “Great Doubt” this skill is refined, now with the distinct addition of the composer's own vocal in front. The tone of each track is unmistakably Sonne’s, structured around contrasts through an impeccable sense of timing. Lyrics on the album are sparse, merely highlighting different scenes or emotional states of being, leaving the music to fill in the blanks. Yet they also form a pattern of ambiguity, consolidated through the album title, searching for answers through looking at how and what you are asking, questions for the world, questions of love.

The viola, a trusted companion since Astrid Sonne’s youth, appears effortlessly throughout the album, fully integrated into the sonic universe; through a pizzicato driven arrangement in the poignant track “Almost” or along with booms and claps in mutated cinematic stabs during “Give my all”, paraphrasing Mariah Carey's 1997 ballad. Yet the string section also gives way to explorations of woodwinds, counterbalancing the bowed movements with digital brass and airy flutes. Finally, beats and detuned piano are fresh additions to the soundscape, cementing how Sonne’s practice is always evolving into new territories.