With Elektro Erotyk (out on Berlin-based label/platform FUU), Polish artist Ava Rabiat opens the first act of a planned trilogy – a work that turns electronic composition into a deeply introspective practice. Built from processed voice, field recordings, and minimalist electronics, the album unfolds as a study of tension between body and machine, emotion and form, control and surrender.
Rather than a debut in the conventional sense, Elektro Erotyk feels like an entry point into a larger continuum – one where sound operates as a physical extension of thought, and the act of composing borders on performance art. Rabiat treats voice and breath as instruments, language as both shield and mirror, and silence as a field charged with potential.
In this conversation, she reflects on vulnerability, intuition, and the quiet radicalism of turning the erotic into an artistic method – not as provocation, but as a way to reclaim sensitivity as power.
Chain D.L.K.: “Elektro Erotyk” is described as an introspective first chapter in a trilogy – what kind of inner terrain are you mapping across this journey?
Ava Rabiat: In this first, most inward-looking chapter, I map the impossibility and, at the same time, the longing for connection – between one’s own mind and body, between the inner self and the outer self, and between the self and the outside world. These are areas full of paradoxes: the more one seeks unity, the more one becomes aware of fragmentation. Yet this fragmentation is where the work begins. The journey begins with the search for oneself.
Chain D.L.K.: You speak of sound as a bridge between inner experience and outer reality. Do you see this album as a form of self-portrait? Or something else?
Ava Rabiat: These are incomplete pencil strokes. I show fragments of myself, but not for their own sake. It is an attempt to communicate. An attempt to find a sounding board in the recipient. A cautious, courageous reaching out and a quick retreat. A sounding out. “Elektro Erotyk” celebrates vulnerability as strength.
Chain D.L.K.: The album title is striking – “Elektro Erotyk”. What does “erotic” mean to you in this context, beyond the obvious connotations?
Ava Rabiat: The title primarily describes my fascination and attraction to electronic music. Music has a strong physical resonance. In my compositional process, I experience moments of physical excitement. It’s a super intimate process: listening so closely to the inner sensations, transforming them into sound, deconstructing and reshaping it until it resonates at the same frequency as your bodily experience – there’s something deeply erotic in that. Mind and body are unified, and I’m fully present at the moment. It’s physical work, sensual work. Erotic and music share the same magic. Both are forms of non-verbal communication. Erotic also has a silent, hidden, mysterious aspect and a great potential power.
Chain D.L.K.: How does Polish – as both your mother tongue and the language of the album – shape your compositional process emotionally and sonically?
Ava Rabiat: Polish is my emotional vernacular, my mother tongue– the language most deeply tied to emotion. Language is home. A part of my identity. But I also chose Polish because of its sound, its intonation, and its rhythm. For example, many sibilant sounds are similar to my sonic material, so that spoken and sung words can merge seamlessly with the music.
Chain D.L.K.: Breath becomes an instrument in “Elektro Erotyk”. Can you talk about how physicality, or bodily presence, informs your sound?
Ava Rabiat: Besides purely electronic sounds, which have their own physicality, body sounds like voice or breath directly represent the body. Breath is a very intimate instrument, a direct expression of life, mood, and state. In the compositional process, a kind of feedback loop emerges, where the body plays a central role. A sound originates there, is then electronically transformed, and takes on a new form – a form that resonates back through my body and thereby changes. The loop finally echoes in the listener’s body as an image or sensation. This is an example of communication.
Chain D.L.K.: You use a lot of processed field recordings. What sort of environments or situations do you tend to record, and what draws you to them?
Ava Rabiat: I made my first recordings in my hometown of Gdask, which I visited again after a long time. It was an attempt to understand this place, with all the layers woven through my life. It was so foreign and familiar to me at the same time – confusing and very emotional. Special sounds are bonded to certain stages of life. I could paint my childhood with the sounds of the sea, church bells, trains, crows, the engine noise of a Polish Fiat, and many more. When I hear them, I am immediately transported there emotionally. A journey through time at the speed of light. It’s magic. Many of these recordings found their way into Elektro Erotyk. These are such special things, but in principle, I take my recordings everywhere. All it needs is a moment that catches my attention – it can be really anything. It’s often an intuitive decision. I’m drawn to taking something and putting it in a completely different context. Turning something ordinary into something unique. Or preserving the everyday because it is unique – we just forget about that. I like to bring a recording to the point of unrecognisability through editing, and yet its spirit remains. Or it is completely transformed into something new. It’s a huge playground.
Chain D.L.K.: Did any specific field recording on the album surprise you during the transformation process, becoming something completely different from its origin?
Ava Rabiat: Mostly, the recordings take on a completely new identity through transformation. I’m constantly fascinated by how much you can do by processing your own voice.
Chain D.L.K.: The album avoids conventional structures and embraces intuition. What does composing intuitively look like for you, in practice?
Ava Rabiat: Attention directed inward, highly sensitized to inner impulses. It’s moody and driven by pleasure. I always make sure I don’t get bored.
Chain D.L.K.: Were there moments where instinct clashed with control, where you had to choose between emotional rawness and technical precision?
Ava Rabiat: They happen all the time. But I’m not very interested in technical precision – rather in the precision of expression. I work on that very persistently. I like letting chance into my music, and I consciously leave imperfections as they are.. They make it human and authentic. I have no musical education, have never learned to play an instrument. My intuition is what I have to trust. And sometimes a composition goes its own way. I just have to listen.
Chain D.L.K.: Collaboration played a role – Baak Gnak for mixing, Luka Aron for mastering. How did these relationships shape or refine the work?
Ava Rabiat: It was the first time for me to enter into such a dialogue. It requires a lot of trust, which was given. It was very intense and enriching for me. My music profited greatly from these relationships.
Chain D.L.K.: You’re active in visual arts, costume design, theater… Did these other practices seep into “Elektro Erotyk”? If so, how?
Ava Rabiat: I come from the visual arts – painting, spatial installations, performances. I’m also a set designer for film and theater, and I’m currently writing a script. Composing is relatively new in my life. I can work across all these different disciplines because they’re all rooted in the same artistic principle. The artistic process is universal – only the tools change. Sometimes it’s sound, paint, words, architecture and space, or body movement. The conceptual work behind it is the same. When I compose, I often think in cinematic terms – situations, snapshots, stories. I create sonic spaces: for example, a reverberant cathedral, a rainy landscape, a cramped chamber. I paint them with sound colors – monochrome or vibrant – I think about texture, I adjust the light, and I let characters play within that space. Some tones represent figures, creatures with specific physiognomies, quirks, attitudes, and behaviors. It’s fundamentally about storytelling.
Chain D.L.K.: The album feels like a meditation on vulnerability. Was there anything particularly difficult or cathartic to express in it?
Ava Rabiat: Yes, it was mostly both at the same time. I opened up about many deep, hurting points. That was challenging. But I see pain as an opportunity for growth. The album is an attempt to remain enigmatic while showing vulnerability. Music is very well suited to this. It is a cipher – a universal but ambiguous language, one that I love deeply.
Chain D.L.K.: The erotic, as you frame it, is a life force – a kind of artistic libido. Do you think we underestimate the erotic in art?
Ava Rabiat: “Elektro Erotyk” is not primarily about eroticism – but the erotic was the pulse beneath my compositional process. I’d like to share some thoughts on this topic. The erotic is fundamentally about aliveness – being present in your body, fully awake to sensation and desire. It’s not just sexual – it’s the impulse to connect, to reach out, to make contact with something outside yourself, to be yourself. In art, it finds a place – partly. But outside of art, there’s often this false divide where eroticism is seen as superficial or shameful, something to hide rather than explore, especially for women. In a culture that often demands to be rational and controlled, there’s real power in claiming the erotic as a legitimate artistic and life force. To say: my desire matters, my body matters, my intensity matters – and it belongs to me and my art.
Chain D.L.K.: How much of “Elektro Erotyk” was imagined beforehand, and how much emerged in the act of creation?
Ava Rabiat: Most of it came about during the creative process. Originally, there were a few more compositions. The selection of tracks rounded off the thematic arc. But it was never my goal to make an overly conceptual album. What connects all tracks is the attitude and the perspective.
Chain D.L.K.: Did you have any recurring visual images or dreams during the making of this album?
Ava Rabiat: In general, I think very visually. While composing, I see abstract pictures. Light, shadows, forms, graphics, Movement. Dreams are not an important source of inspiration for me. Life is more interesting.
Chain D.L.K.: Can you share any literary, cinematic, or philosophical influences that resonated with the mood or themes of this work?
Ava Rabiat: I’m drawn to philosophical and socially relevant positions. I tend to absorb ideas rather than reference them directly. Life itself influences me a lot – observation, reflection, experience, and talks with friends. Everything flows into my work, but not in a way I can neatly attribute to specific sources.
Chain D.L.K.: What role does silence – or near-silence – play in your music, especially given how intense and saturated some moments can be?
Ava Rabiat: Silence holds great significance, both in composition and in meaning. It creates tension or brings release. It is the unspoken that often speaks louder than words. It’s what lies between the lines. It is the white page before the first line is drawn. It is where a thought can be born. Silence can be the calm before the storm, or eternal stillness. The moment when we stop breathing, or hold our breath before saying something important. It can be an escape from overload, or it can overwhelm. It can be frightening or liberating. It leaves space for longing. It can mark a beginning or an end. What’s also interesting is where perceived silence begins – because absolute silence doesn’t exist.
Chain D.L.K.: Your voice is used in non-traditional ways throughout – whispers, breaths, fragmented phrases. How do you relate to your voice as an instrument?
Ava Rabiat: My voice is an extension of my body – thoughts made physical. I work with my voice to create spaces of sound and to convey content. It is a vehicle for emotion and physical presence. My voice is also a political body. It is Polish. It is female. It carries all of that within it. I claim space for my own presence – on my own terms.
Chain D.L.K.: Looking ahead to the rest of the trilogy: will future chapters build on the themes of “Elektro Erotyk”, or subvert them?
Ava Rabiat: Each act of the trilogy will build outward from the last, expanding the perspective from an introspective view on an individual in Act One, to a consideration of humanity in general set against virtual bodies and machines in Act Two, to a reflection on humans within their various systems – social, ecological, historical, etc. – in Act Three. It’s like zooming out progressively while keeping the human at the center – moving from the intimate interior outward to wider contexts.
Chain D.L.K.: Finally, if someone were listening to “Elektro Erotyk” alone, in the dark, with no distractions – what do you hope they might feel?
Ava Rabiat: I do not wish to dictate specific feelings. I want to create space for interpretation, contemplation, and communication.
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