Moon Apple^CA/QC

© Zachary Lata

Montréal-based electronic musician Moon Apple got her name from her grandmother, a Buddhist monk. Her origin story sets the tone to the intimate nature that permeates her musical project. While living in Seoul, South Korea, she was involved in the Hongdae underground scene of the early 2010s, and she has been making music since, as an audio engineer, music producer, composer and sound designer. In 2020, she released MYTH MAKER ~ DREAM DESTROYER, an album exploring “e-existentialism.” Within its enigmatic and paradoxical aesthetic, Moon Apple layers organic self-recorded samples and field recordings to conjure intricate, syncopated rhythms - soundscapes designed for dreaming. Earlier this year, she released the digital EP #haiku, further showcasing her ability to distill emotions into sonic poems.

Stepping onto MUTEK's stage with her upcoming sonic odyssey, "Four Pillars," Moon Apple embarks on a profound exploration. Inspired by the timeless divination method of Asian astrology known as "The Four Pillars of Destiny," her performance delves into the paradox of fatalism and agency by questioning astrological animals of an elemental nature: how dare they have the audacity to cement the human condition into fatalistic stone structures. The ancient resonance of Panasiatic instruments is reborn through Moon Apple's lens, resampled, refracted and reimagined as modern tribal soundscapes.

With FOUR PILLARS, Montréal-based Moon Apple offers a sound ceremony - summoning these arbitrary arbiters of fate - partly to lash out, partly to seek compromise. Along with guests Dédé Chen (writer, performer) and Ahreum Lee (multimedia artist, musician), she will address the elemental arbiters of fate, as she weaves manipulated samples through creative circuitry and digital signal processing, creating glitchy ritualistic rhythms that embraces both delicate and powerful.