The Mexico City-based artist Mabe Fratti, who uses cello, voice and synthesizers to present sound in the form of installation, composition & free improvisation, is joined on a double bill with Melbourne’s Laila Sakini, presenting her richly textured, haunting music.

Mabe Fratti’s music takes us to sensible sounding boards: through a hypnotic and captivating performance, she sews contemporary elements like shoegaze and dream pop with ancestral influences that go from Gregorian chants to Sephardi music, transforming them in ingredients of a potent sonic ritual that causes a profound emotional impact.

Her 2019 debut LP, Pies Sobre la Tierra, introduced the world to Fratti’s lush & hypnotic cello compositions. Her recent album Será que ahora podremos entendernos, earning acclaim from Pitchfork, NPR, BBC, The Wire, The Guardian, XLR8R, Bandcamp, and more, finds a space for lyrical invention, elevating her otherworldly creations to new heights. The album’s title translates as Will we be able to understand each other now? Mabe’s Cello is still a prominent aspect of the work here but it comes draped in vintage synths, guitars, field recordings, and gentle drone.

Please note that all seated tickets have now sold out for this performance.

‘The result is nine tracks that inspire inner spaciousness, undercut with a journeying sense of unease, through the creation of ambient, textural soundscapes’ ★★★★ The Guardian, Global Album of the Month

‘Blooming with ecstatic synth riffs and spirited cello, this record captures the sound of a mind abuzz’ Pitchfork 

‘What may be the most adventurous album I’ve heard all year!… what you hear is clearly a cello but what unfolds is an aural excursion worth a careful listen on a good pair of headphones or speakers.’ NPR 

‘She plays cello like a wild angel’  Mary-Anne Hobbs, BBC 6 Music

Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, producer and DJ Laila Sakini hails from Melbourne’s diverse music scene, but currently dwells in London, her on and off home over the past few years. Her richly textured, haunting music has taken flight over a series of 2020–21 releases including Strada, Vivienne, Into The Traffic, Under The Moonlight, Princess Diana of Wales and her 2017 collaboration with poet Lucy Van, Figures.

Laila’s piano based debut work Vivienne was listed in several top 10 AOTY entries by the likes of Boomkat and XLRTR.

Laila performs regularly at Cafe Oto and worldwide across all forms of spaces, a headline performer at Galeria Zé dos Bois, Berlin Atonal, Listen! festival, Meakusma x Arkaoda and more.

She has been featured thrice in The Wire Magazine, graced the cover of Switzerland’s Zweikommasiben magazine and been featured in AQNB among several online publications.

Laila Sakini is producing some of the most vital and brittle music of our time.” – Boomkat, 2020

“An enigma with a purpose” – The Wire Magazine, 2021