There’s always been a mystical relationship between nature and sound. Between the climate crisis and emerging technologies such as AI, however, there’s a heightened need to reconnect with nature – and the transportative power of electronic music can bring us closer to the natural world, tapping into mystical and non-human planes of existence.

“I think music is one of the closest languages to nature,” says Italian artist Caterina Barbieri, whose minimalist compositions fuse mysticism with themes of posthumanism. Using modular synth to conjure ecstatic and otherworldly feelings of wonder, she sees music as a bridge between humans and the natural world. ”It’s one of the languages and arts that can channel the beauty of nature, and the feelings we can experience when we’re in front of a beautiful landscape,” she explains. “Music is what gets closest to, you know, the sense of ecstasy and contemplation. That real sense of really losing the boundaries of your ego and really merging into a bigger and larger perspective where you’re in touch with something bigger that is nature and the cosmos.”

While using electronic music to emulate the natural world is nothing new – it can be traced back to the late 70s and 80s with ambient progenitors such as Brian Eno and Ryuichi Sakamoto – the need to reach into realities beyond human experience takes on new meaning in our current age of climate crisis, where mysticism can help us establish deep connections to the Earth and to one another. From Beatrice Dillon’s elemental ritualism and Dawuna’s hypnotic frequencies to Marina Herlop’s posthuman renditions of a future world and Malibu’s oceanic ambient tides, a contemporary wave of experimental musicians are drawing on the natural world, using electronic sounds to decenter the human, and transport listeners towards a more communal vision for the environment – and humanity.

“I think music has the ability to tap into multiple realities and sensory levels all at once,” says London-based musician Naima Karlsson, Don Cherry’s granddaughter, whose Organic Music Societies publication, along with Lawrence Kumpf and Don Cherry biographer Magnus Nygren, will debut at this year’s Terraforma festival. For Karlsson, music is innately spiritual; it allows us to decentre the ego, while establishing a deeper relationship to nature. “Electronic music brings many digital textures that reflect our current reality while connecting to nature’s limitless universal soundscapes,” she says. “As both a musician and visual artist, my music projects often come from a conceptual basis where words and images lead to my compositions and sound ideas. I often connect research from nature's timeless images, systems and forms and aim to find ways to express what these could sound like.”

“Music has the ability to tap into multiple realities and sensory levels all at once” – Naima Karlsson

While reaffirming our connection to nature, music can also help us tap into ancient spiritual practices. “Through the ages, we have lost our strong connections with nature, so we can use these technologies as spiritual tools, although we are all inherently psychic and always connected to the supernatural,” agrees London-based producer Nkisi. Named after spiritual Congolese totems, her music is a pulsing blend of experimental electronic music and traditional African polyrhythms, transporting listeners into a trance state that feels akin to ritual. “I mostly use technologies and electronic music as tools for channelling and engaging in intimate relationships with non-human, invisible and ancestral realms,” she continues. “Through my experiences in channelling, I've discovered that spirits are drawn to electric currents, using them as a conduit for communication, so they resonate with electronic music on a very deep level.”

For Nkisi, electronic music functions as a quantum portal to invisible worlds, which have been lost to Western colonial systems. “Through my work, I seek to disrupt the settler colonial sensory orders and systems that dictate our perception of life and restrict our ability to truly listen.” Here corporal sub-bass frequencies, non-linear improvisation, and polyphonic melodies pave the way for connecting to ancient traditions. “These sub-frequencies affirm our relationships with the invisible world, and our ancient and contemporary indigenous experiences and traditions,” she expands.

But there’s also an increasing need to harness these spiritual properties to forge new ways of seeing this world in relation to the Anthropocene. Presented at Terraforma, Black Med is an ongoing theoretical project by Italian duo Invernomuto, Simone Bertuzzi and Trabucchi that explores immigration patterns across the Mediterranean Sea through oral cultures and contemporary mythologies. With an emphasis on the effects of the environmental crisis on diaspora and minority communities, they highlight the need to use emerging technologies to cast a decolonial lens on the relationship between humans and nature.

As a universal language, music has the potential to build connections with one another, tapping into our collective alienation, while forging new perspectives. This is particularly important as we reckon with the impact of the Anthropocene on society and the environment – which is disproportionately affecting the world’s poorest. As Invernomuto puts it: “Instead of tapping into ancient practices, we are expecting new connections, new paths, and new oracles.”

Terraforma is taking place at Villa Arconati between June 9 and 11