Imagine a morning walk, Bach in your headphones, when the ground begins to give way beneath your feet. You descend through a dark tunnel and emerge on the other side of the earth, then keep walking, up, left and right, until you arrive at a train station.

This is the premise of Darkness Visible, the debut album from Cypriot-Swedish pianist, composer, and improviser Kristin Sofroniou, out November 20 on Protomaterial Records. It is a continuous sonic story of movement and strange encounters, in which fragments of Bach's Partita in E minor, BWV 830 appear and disappear in different locations and meet original electro-acoustic compositions.

The album draws on sound recordings from everyday life captured across Sweden, Greece, Austria, and Mexico. These are woven together with improvisation, recomposition, and original writing for piano and keyboards. The music moves fluidly between repertoire and free improvisation, acoustic and electronic sound, and materials from different times and places. Baroque counterpoint, a passing street scene, and a synthesized texture can share the same moment.

Timbre and sound are at the heart of the album, which moves from lo-fi field recordings to high-quality piano recordings, with touches of dark sonic landscapes along the way. The album can be experienced on any listening system, though good headphones or speakers reveal the full range of textures, from the grain of a street recording to the resonance of the piano.

Out November 20, 2026 · Protomaterial Records · Digital + Physical
Available for pre-order here