Mabe Fratti

With cello, voice, and electronics at its core, Mabe Fratti crafts mesmerizing compositions that fuse looping methods with spontaneous improvisation. The Guatemala-born, Mexico City-based composer and performer issued her first full-length effort, Pies sobre la tierra, in 2019 before earning mounting recognition through later works such as Se Ve Desde Aquí (2022) and joint endeavors including Titanic and Amore Muere. Her fourth album, Sentir Que No Sabes, arrived in 2024 as her most approachable recording yet and drew extensive critical approval.

Raised within a Pentecostalist household in Guatemala, Fratti encountered only Christian or classical recordings during childhood. After classical cello studies, she explored increasingly experimental sounds, began composing as a teenager, and broadened her range once she departed the church. Relocating to Mexico City in 2015 through a Goethe Institute residency, she immersed herself in the local improvisational community. In 2018 she issued Moot Point, a joint release with EvilTapes, then the EP Aprendiendo a Hablar, which included saxophonist Roberto Tercero and experimental artist Concepción Huerta. Her debut album Pies sobre la tierra followed in 2019, drawing inspiration from W.G. Sebald’s novel The Rings of Saturn. The 2020 EP Se Parece A preceded the 2021 full-length Será Que Ahora Podremos Entendernos, issued by Unheard of Hope and featuring appearances by claire rousay and Tajak. She partnered with Gudrun Gut (Malaria!, Einstürzende Neubauten) on the Umor Rex album Let’s Talk About the Weather and issued another EP, Estática, alongside Concepción Huerta.

Major attention arrived in 2022 with the solo release Se Ve Desde Aquí, designated Best New Music by Pitchfork. The same accolade went to Vidrio, the 2023 debut from Titanic, Fratti’s chamber pop/jazz venture with Héctor Tosta. She assembled the experimental collective Amore Muere alongside Concepción Huerta, Gibrana Cervantes, and Camille Mandoki, releasing A time to love, a time to die in 2023. Fratti’s dreamy, impressionistic fourth solo album, Sentir Que No Sabes, earned substantial praise following its 2024 emergence.