“I don’t write from a place of… [frowns],” says Mia Prce aka Miaux, describing the emotional undercurrents of her compositions to Leah Kardos in The Wire 486, “There’s always some hope in it. A sensitivity for everything that has been and everything that is coming.”

The Belgium based minimal composer’s latest release Never Coming Back is a rescore of Herk Harvey’s 1962 cult film Carnival Of Souls, which she was commissioned to create for Film Fest Gent in 2022. She has performed it live alongside screenings of the film many times since.

This mix, recorded for The Wire, soundtracks a personal Prce narrative compiled from music she associates with the long drive between Antwerp and Sarajevo. “This mix was made while travelling south by car during a stop with our friends in the armpit of the Adriatic Sea,” she explains. “The route, going from Antwerp towards ex-Yugoslavia, takes about three days by car. I’ve been doing this route since 1996, right after war ended and we could visit our family in Sarajevo again. In those days my dad used to drive and he would mostly just listen to all different local radio stations. Since 2005, we’ve been driving this route ourselves and ever since we always have some playlist or some songs that keep coming back throughout the trip.

“Imagine driving through pine trees while the Adriatic Sea is shimmering in the hot sun. I added one of my older compositions called “Mare Adriatico”, where I express this feeling of joy; a serenade for the sea. Outside of the car the crickets are chirping, and inside there’s this mix of some new and older electronica, some Herzegovinian traditionals (the style of singing is called ganga), some Yugoslavian soundtracks (Kornelije Kovač was a master) and ending with Don Cherry’s “Malkauns” because the memory of driving into the Triglav National Park in Slovenia with some of the highest peaks in front of us while this song started to play, is unforgettable.”

Tracklist

Hkud Sitan Tanac-Šujica “Ženska Ganga”
Hercegovačke Ženske Gange “Oj Livado Rosna Travo”
Abdou El Omari “Agadir”
Miaux “Thank You But I’m Never Coming Back”
Alessandro Alessandroni “Preludietto”
Ssaliva “God Room”
Rex Ilusivii “Veliki Preko”
Tele Music “Double Micron”
Trii Group “G lok G lok”
Stacks “Seagulls”
Zoran Simjanović “Grlom U Jagode”
Nuslux “Bubbles”
Miaux “I Have No Desire For The Close Company Of Other People”
Kornelije Kovač “Panorama”
Phew “Signal”
Bernard Favre “2043”
Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru “Song Of Abayi”
Jan Johansson “Visa Från Utanmyra”
Branko Mataja “Tebi Majko Misli Lete”
Miaux “Mare Adriatico”
Don Cherry “Malkauns”

Read Leah Kardos’s interview with Miaux in full in The Wire 486. Wire subscribers can also read the article online via the digital library of back issues.