In French guitarist Nina Garcia’s hands, the guitar becomes a magnetic field of resonance. Her gentle brutalist ruminations share a common language with other players, reimagining traditional guitar in non-idiomatic territories explored by the likes of Bill Orcutt, Wendy Eisenberg and Jules Reidy.

Garcia plays her instrument with little more than a distortion pedal and an amp. On the other side, an electromagnetic pickup in her strumming hand tracks her gestures and registers vibrations throughout space. This gadget allows Garcia to conjure a Doppler-like effect while never touching the strings. It’s strongly felt in “Le Leurre”, causing weird rhythmic waves which the brain struggles to assimilate.

Here, she curates a special Wire mix of her own music and music that has inspired her recent album Bye Bye Bird.

Tracklist

La Banque de Jeu de Pharaon “J’ai traversé Paris”
Autoreverse “High Speed Dub Switch”
Jean-Philippe Gross “Secante”
Apöpa “Suip”; “Point Getter”
Sophie Agnel “Song 3”
Conlon Nancarrow “Study No 14”
Nina Garcia “Le Leurre”
Guttersnipe “Pipa Pipa Portalspawn”
Apöpa “Ciple Turn”
Sophie Agnel “Song 7”
La Banque de Jeu de Pharaon “L’amour Musical”
Maria Bertel & Nina Garcia “Inorganic Body”
Nina Garcia “Aubé”

In The Wire 497, Garcia talks in detail to Miloš Hroch about her recent album Bye Bye Bird and her duo Autoreverse, with Arnaud Rivière. Buy a copy of the issue here. Subscribers can also read the article in our online library.