b. Espen Sommer Eide, 1972, Oslo, Norway. ‘The future artist’, says Norwegian digital expert Phonophani, ‘will be a genetic engineer.’ Phonophani released his debut UK album in 2001, the same year that fertility specialists Panayiotis Zavos and Severino Antinori’s predicted that the world’s first cloned baby would be born. Intrigued by the possibilities of gene manipulation, Phonophani correlates the aversion people have towards genetic engineering with the distaste with which many view sample-based music. ‘Sampling is a form of gene manipulation where you arrange and re-arrange sound parts from your own playing and the works of others to create new organisms of sound’, asserts the musician who, notably, holds a Masters Degree in Philosophy. For Phonophani, the appropriation of samples and the camouflaging of original sources is an artistic act in itself. Phonophani’s stated intention in creating his highly evocative pieces in the modern ambient style, is to be ‘violently emotional’ in his work and to ‘overshadow the synthetic nature of the constructions’. His self-titled debut was released by the Biophon label, run by Biosphere’s Geir Jenssen. Sommer Eide also records, alongside Dag-Are Haugan, as one half of Alog.