Every now and then, a collaboration comes along that feels less like a project and more like a crossing of destinies. Nefasphere is the new two track release from American composer and Mutantrumpet visionary Ben Neill and Ethiopian producer Mikael Seifu. And it is one of those profound moments – a meeting that folds time, geography and spirit into something quietly revelatory.

The story begins fifteen years ago, when Seifu was a college student in New Jersey studying under Neill, already a respected experimentalist known for his fusion of acoustic performance and electronic architecture.

The connection between the two, rooted in curiosity and mutual respect, has ensured ever since – a creative dialogue that finally finds its voice in Nefasphere.

The title itself which is taken from the Amharic word nefas, meaning wind, breath or spirit, is a perfect key to the music’s elemental essence.

Across its two interpretations – the Worldwinds Mix and the Moire Mix – Neill and Seifu create soundscapes that seem to breathe on their own. The Mutantrumpet which is Neill’s own invention that merges brass with digital control, moves like a living current through Seifu’s textured electronic world. It’s an environment rich with rhythm, tone and pulse, and yet it is anchored in the meditative flow of Ethiopian musical tradition.

The Worldwinds Mix unfolds like a sunrise. Long, fluid drones drift across subtle rhythmic patterns that pulse beneath the surface, evoking both air and motion. Seifu’s production exudes restraint with every note deliberate and every pause essential. When Neill’s trumpet voice emerges, it doesn’t dominate but converses, trading phrases with the surrounding air. It’s a rare example of two artists listening to each other so deeply that the music itself begins to listen back.

The Moire Mix pushes further into abstraction. Layers of percussive texture rise and fold back into themselves, creating intricate interference patterns that shimmer like light reflected on moving water. There’s something beautifully paradoxical about it – at once mechanical and deeply human, as if the machines themselves have learned to breathe.

Listen here:

Nefasphere isn’t about virtuosity for its own sake. It’s about connection between mentor and student, between tradition and innovation, between sound and silence. And there is a humility to the music that is rare in modern electronic composition with neither artist trying to outshine the other. Instead, they build a space where sound becomes an act of empathy, and a shared exploration of what breath can mean.

For Seifu this marks his first release since 2016’s acclaimed Zelalem EP, and it’s a triumphant return that reaffirms his place as one of Ethiopia’s most forward looking musical voices. For Neill, it’s another chapter in a lifelong pursuit of musical systems that blur the boundaries between composition and evolution.

But the real reason that Nefasphere stands out is because it feels truly alive. Its currents move like wind through the trees and like breath shared between worlds.

More About Ben Neill

Composer/performer Ben Neill is the inventor of the Mutantrumpet, a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument, and is recognized as a musical innovator who “uses a schizophrenic trumpet to create art music for the people” (Wired Magazine). Using interactive computer technologies, Neill generates unique musical and visual experiences that blur the lines between acoustic and electronic music, minimalism, and visual media. Neill has recorded thirteen albums on labels including Universal/Verve, Thirsty Ear, Astralwerks, Six Degrees, and his own Blue Math label distributed by AWAL/Sony. His first book, Diffusing Music, was released on Bloomsbury Press in 2024.

More About Mikael Seifu

Mikael Seifu is an Ethiopian electronic music producer committed to “Ethiopiyawi Electronic” – a coinage Seifu uses to describe the music he and his peers are producing in Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis-Ababa.

Born and raised in Addis Ababa, he moved to the US and went on to study music production & the music industry at Ramapo College of New Jersey, a small school about 45 minutes outside of Manhattan. Here Seifu met a mentor in Ben Neill, the composer and music technologist who trained with La Monte Young. Seifu was inspired by Neill to take serious his calling in music. Mikael’s music does not westernize or electronicize extant Ethiopian music. Instead, Seifu uses Ethio-Jazz’s spirit of brewing estranged styles for his own musical tincturing. Seifu’s passion above all else is to create something befitting of its time, yet “eternally Ethiopian.”

Find out more at www.benneill.com