Our fourth annual concert celebrating International Drone Day!
With Coastal Electronauts Peter Coyte and Sophie Sirota along with Japanese singer, songwriter, composer and producer Mieko Shimizu and headline Anna Phoebe. Live visuals from @diz_qo will make this a feast for the ears and eyes
Anna Phoebe is a composer, producer, performer and broadcaster whose work exists at the intersection of classical, electronic, and experimental music. Renowned for her visceral, violin-led soundscapes, she crafts bold, emotionally charged works that balance raw human energy with cutting-edge sonic exploration. Drawing inspiration from both the natural world and technological frontiers, her music moves fluidly between intimacy and scale – from quiet meditations to cinematic intensity.
Sophie Sirota is a classically trained violist, singer, and composer. With an extensive career spanning across genres, Sophie has collaborated as a session musician, live performer, arranger, and composer with some of the most iconic names in music, including 4-Hero, D’Influence, Gabrielle, Beth Orton, Ed Harcourt, Paul Weller, Kim Deal, Robert Kirkby, Tindersticks, and visual artists Jeremy Millar and Sadie Hennesey.
Sophie blends her classical training with modern experimental sounds. A member of Coastal Electronauts and the Free Range String Orchestra, she regularly performs in the South East and London. Known for her innovative performances, Sophie creates ambient soundscapes, using looper and effects pedals to craft intricate, evolving textures. These live performances, particularly at electronic events, have garnered attention for their atmospheric depth and emotional resonance.
Her debut album, ‘Pressure Drop’ is out on Oct 24th, and has been reviewed as:
‘A flame in the dark and a moment in time, as universal as it is deeply personal…’ (Rowan Blair Colver- Sound Read Six)
‘…takes you to big spaces with dreamy skies, all the while with a slight, ominous undertow which adds a certain industrial, urban spice.’ (Tim London- Outside Left)
Shape Navigator is an electronic music artist whose career began in the vibrant underground scene of the 1990s. Signed to pioneering UK label Guerrilla Records, Shape Navigator became known for his genre-blurring productions that fused ambient atmospheres and progressive electronic textures.
He founded and ran Weirdo Magnet, a multi-arts club night that became a cult favourite for its immersive blend of music, performance, and visual art.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, he launched Coastal Electronauts as a podcast—offering deep listening sessions and artist interviews—which has since evolved into a popular monthly live event, showcasing boundary-pushing electronic acts. He co-curates International Drone Day at The Gulbenkian Arts Centre/Kentronica each May, celebrating expansive, meditative soundscapes with a growing community of drone and ambient artists.
‘the furnace vs. glacier tones were powerful, knife-like, and (in connection with the light show) grandly cinematic’ Mark Bandola
Mieko Shimizu is a boldly nonconformist Japanese singer, songwriter, composer and producer. Based in London, she has released numerous albums in Japan including Road of Shells and Totem. She first erupted onto the UK scene as Apache 61, working with bass player Mick Karn from the seminal 80s band Japan, on a release for Daisy World, the label run by Haruomi Hosono.
Word quickly spread of her remarkable live shows, leading to performances across the Middle East, Japan and Europe, including Sonar in Spain alongside the mighty Kraftwerk and Goldfrapp, and a support slot for Massive Attack at their Meltdown Festival in London with Riz MC, AKA actor Riz Ahmed. Mieko has also performed with Nitin Sawhney and the London Symphony Orchestra on the Japanese silent film Yogoto no Yume, collaborated with David Cunningham from The Flying Lizards and Robert Lippok of To Rococo Rot, and remixed the likes of Coldcut and cult electro pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra.
She has composed scores for contemporary dance company Phoenix Dance Theatre as well as the ballet The Red Balloon at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre. She was appointed an Emerging Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre, where she collaborated with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on her own compositions.
Her album My Tentacles marked a return to a deeper, more reflective sound world — a realm of hauntingly beautiful symphonic songs interwoven with glitchy electronica. Her third UK album, I Bloom, is a luscious
record of interleaving haunting melodies — songs that are both beautiful in their
sincerity and tantalising in their simplicity. Her unerring elegance and undying passion take listeners on a journey from hidden places across emotional landscapes to distant nebulae. On this record, Mieko collaborated with William D Drake of The Cardiacs.
Most recently, Mieko released a two-track single featuring the lead piece Breathe Out — a minimal sonic soundscape sculpted around the expressive voice of the flute and imbued with an animistic spirit. Its counterpart, Breathe In, is an intimate dialogue between flute and Moog, where breath and electricity intertwine to create a meditative, otherworldly texture. Together, the pair capture Mieko’s evolving dialogue between nature, breath, and sound.
@diz_qo has been reasonably visual for a few decades now, creating video art in both analogue and digital spaces. @diz_qo’s early experiments tinkered with tape/slide, 16mm film, & video art, whilst part of the Colosseum Project / Luna Nera art collective. This led to creating lighting and video design in the live music arena, and as Creative Director/ Editor for music videos & visualisers. Lately, @diz_qo has re-engaged with the live, experiential art space – crafting a raw visual language via video installations and emotionally reactive projection design.
Doors open at 7pm. For live concerts and shows, doors generally open thirty minutes before the show starts.
