Los Angeles theremin player and composer ALIA announces her debut album Where Echoes Bloom, following 2025’s Harold Budd cover in collaboration with Nailah Hunter. It is an exploration of atmosphere through cultural influences paired with a performance prowess over audio technology and novel instrumentation.

“I wanted to showcase the hauntingly beautiful voice of the theremin as well as the intimate, melancholic sound of the kacapi, a Javanese zither,” writes Alia. “I set them to a backdrop of lush pads I created on my Arturia Microfreak and Korg Minilogue along with lots of shimmering reverb to create ethereal, otherworldly soundscapes that are, at times, hypnotic.”

The record is informed by a unique meeting point of geographies, influences, creative practices, and mentors. Via her father, the Lebanese percussionist Jamal Mohamed, Alia grew up around Levantine jazz and other widespread musics. She studied raqs sharqi - better known as belly dance - and Arabic music, as well as learning the kacapi from the Indonesian pandit Ade Suparman. Later, she adopted the theremin after seeing an LA performance by Iranian-Armenian musician Armen Ra, to employ “like a human voice, but strange and magical. I like to incorporate it into various styles of music in unexpected ways.” An in-demand session player, Alia is also a member of pop musician Melanie Martinez’ touring band.