Sonja Moonear

Sonja Moonear is a Swiss pianist, DJ, live performer and sound designer who moves between classical training and electronic music. Born in Switzerland in 1978, she starts piano at the age of four and studies classical music before turning towards other styles.

Early musical influences

As a teenager in the late 1980s, she listens to Depeche Mode and David Bowie, then discovers KLF, acid music and electronic rhythms through underground and open-air parties in Switzerland and Germany. This leads her into electronic music and away from her classical piano studies.

Geneva scene and first bookings

In the mid-1990s, when rave culture becomes more commercial, she spends three years helping organise parties in Geneva squats with the Mentalgroove crew. She DJs, helps run events and even cleans up afterwards. Around this period, she buys a Roland R8 and begins to receive professional bookings at venues including Weetamix and Usine, while also looking for quieter, more experimental spaces in which to work.

Residencies, collaborations and touring

At the start of the 2000s, she begins working with friends and collaborators. Miss Kittin introduces her to new opportunities, and Weetamix gives her a residency alongside Luciano. During a night in Tokyo, she plays after DJ Hell, who later adds her to the Gigolo roster. Although her sound differs from his, the booking gives her further opportunities to perform in cities around the world, including in Sweden and Brazil.

Junction SM, labels and releases

She works with artists such as Serafin and Dandy Jack, and with crews including Mutek Chile, Soap System Istanbul and Cosmic Chile Zürich. In 2004, she and Dandy Jack launch the live/DJ project Junction SM, which combines live and DJ sessions that can last for hours. She also performs solo live sets, including one at the Overground festival in August 2004.

From 2005, she is involved in the reconstruction of the label and collective ruta5, alongside regular label parties. Her recorded output includes a remix for the French band T21 on Productions spéciales, a Junction SM EP on Kalk Pets, and a track on Karat’s compilation katapult various 3, which appears on CD and two split vinyl releases. She also produces remixes for Fine Art Recordings and Monika Enterprise for Chica & the Folder.

Other work

Alongside her music career, Moonear works as a sound designer for the Swiss-French television station TSR.