Sofie Birch | Humidity (feat Nana Pi)
Sofie Birch's "Humidity" featuring Nana Pi - how the Copenhagen ambient composer created a meditation on wholeness that appeared on two albums and defined her dreamlike synthesizer aesthetic.
Story Behind “Humidity”
A Four-Year Journey to Wholeness
“Humidity” began in 2018, when Sofie Birch’s friend became pregnant. The news unlocked something in the Copenhagen-based composer - emotions she couldn’t quite name but needed to express through sound. She spent 14 days alone in a forest house, meditating and sketching the first pieces of what would eventually become Holotropica. Among those early sketches was “Humidity,” though it would take four more years before the track found its final form.
The challenge wasn’t writing - it was finishing. Birch kept losing her grip on the production, unable to settle on how the music should sound. She’d pick up the work in waves, recording saxophone parts and other elements, then setting it aside again when the expression felt wrong. The breakthrough came when she connected with Christian Rohde (known as iC_iC), who was launching the interCourse label. Together, they produced Holotropica, finally giving shape to the pieces Birch had been carrying for years.
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“Holotropic means moving towards wholeness,” Birch explained. “Holotropica is my vision of a place of wholeness, serenity and clarity.” The title itself combines “tropical” with “holotropic breathwork” - a therapeutic breathing technique associated with meditation, healing, and self-awareness. “Humidity” captures this concept perfectly: a track that feels both warm and organic, like the air in a greenhouse where things grow slowly but inevitably toward the light.
Two Versions, Two Contexts
Before appearing on Holotropica in May 2022, “Humidity” had already been released as the opening track on Phase Contrast, a July 2020 compilation showcasing artists connected to the interCourse label in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro district. That earlier version, featuring Nana Pi on saxophone, introduced Birch’s vision to the underground electronic community. The track demonstrated how dense tropical free-sax ambient could coexist with acid-bass trance and other experimental sounds on the same compilation - a snapshot of Copenhagen’s diverse electronic underground.
When “Humidity” reappeared on Holotropica two years later, it had evolved. The album version at 3:13 is slightly shorter and more refined, benefiting from the extended production process with Rohde. But both versions share the same core: Nana Pi’s saxophone work, recorded by Asbjørn Derdau, provides the track’s emotional center. Pi’s playing incorporates objects and extended techniques she’s developed as part of her unique saxophone vocabulary, pushing beyond traditional jazz phrasing into more exploratory territory.
The track sits at the heart of Holotropica‘s concept. As Birch described it: “I imagine Holotropica as a place. A point behind closed eyes. From a focal point in potential growth / in a flowing dynamism. A point where nothing happens and everything is. Wherefrom everything can be invoked from the ether.” “Humidity” embodies this vision - music that exists in suspension, where growth happens at the pace of plants reaching toward light.
“Humidity” Recording and Production Details
Analog Synthesis Meets Extended Saxophone Techniques
Birch’s distinctive sound comes from improvising with analog synthesizers, acoustic instruments, and field recordings. For “Humidity,” she built layers of synthesizer tones around Nana Pi’s saxophone, creating organic textures that blur the line between electronic and acoustic. The production emphasizes space and warmth, with reverb placing sounds in expansive environments that suggest both intimacy and vast openness.
All tracks on Holotropica were composed and recorded by Birch, then co-produced with Christian Rohde. For “Humidity” specifically, Asbjørn Derdau handled all saxophone recordings, capturing Nana Pi’s performance with clarity while preserving the experimental nature of her extended techniques. Pi, a Copenhagen-based saxophonist educated at Malmö Conservatory, has developed what she calls “Extemporize” - a music sign language for conducting improvisation that earned her the P8 Jazz Award “Årets Ildsjæl” (Year’s Enthusiast) in 2020.
The Long Production Process
The extended timeline - from 2018 sketches to 2022 release - allowed Birch to refine her vision without rushing. She’d originally included lyrics and vocals in early versions, but those elements fell away as she focused on instrumental textures. The meditation practice she developed during these years informed the music’s contemplative quality. As she explained, “Working on a meditation practice has changed my life, and I wish to share and encourage others to discover their potential through my work with sound and music.”
Birch and Rohde mixed and mastered the album themselves, maintaining complete creative control throughout the process. The album artwork by Amanda Baum and Heidi Maribut visualizes the lush, colorful, deceptively dense world Birch imagined - vegetation in slow cycles of germination, growth, and blooming. The production received support from KODA Kultur, Statens Kunstfond (Danish Arts Foundation), Danske Populær Autorer, and DJBFA, demonstrating institutional recognition of Birch’s contribution to Danish experimental music.
Notes About “Humidity” by Sofie Birch
Release Date: July 17, 2020 (Phase Contrast compilation); May 27, 2022 (Holotropica album)
Duration: 4:31 (Phase Contrast version); 3:13 (Holotropica version)
Genre: Ambient / Progressive Electronic / Experimental
Album: Holotropica (track 4 of 8)
Featured Artist: Nana Pi (saxophone)
Label: interCourse (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Format: Digital, vinyl (12” pressed for Holotropica)
Recording Engineer: Asbjørn Derdau (saxophone recordings)
Producers: Sofie Birch and Christian Rohde
Sofie Birch “Humidity” Era Band Details
Album Details
Album: Holotropica
Release Date: May 27, 2022
Label: interCourse
Total Tracks: 8
Total Duration: 41:34
Recording Period: 2018-2022 (four-year production process)
Recording Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Vinyl: 12” pressing, artwork by Amanda Baum and Heidi Maribut
Distribution: One Eye Witness
Album Concept: “A place of wholeness, serenity and clarity” inspired by meditation, pregnancy, and holotropic breathwork
Funding Support: KODA Kultur, Statens Kunstfond, Danske Populær Autorer, DJBFA
Band Members/Personnel
Sofie Birch - Producer, composer, recording engineer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer, analog synthesizers, acoustic instruments, field recordings
Christian Rohde (iC_iC) - Producer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer
Nana Pi - Featured artist, saxophone (tracks 1 and 4)
Asbjørn Derdau - Saxophone recordings (tracks 1 and 4), beats (track 1)
A. Fabrin - Featured artist, flute (track 2)
Dolphin Midwives - Featured artist, harp (track 3)
iC_iC - Featured artist (track 7), composition, analog synthesizer (track 7), drums (track 8)
Amanda Baum - Artwork
Heidi Maribut - Artwork
Production Notes
First sketches created during 14-day solo meditation retreat in forest house (2018)
Originally included lyrics and vocals, later removed to focus on instrumental textures
Production completed during Birch’s first pregnancy (2021)
All analog synthesizers, bells, clarinet, kalimba, and field recordings
Emphasis on improvisation with structured production
Album rated #671 in best albums of 2022 on RateYourMusic
Vinyl pressing sold out via Bandcamp, available through select record stores
Interesting Facts About “Humidity”
The Danish Ambient Underground
Copenhagen’s experimental electronic scene in the late 2010s and early 2020s fostered an environment where ambient, techno, and free improvisation could coexist naturally. The interCourse label, where Birch released both versions of “Humidity,” positioned itself as a platform for relations “between listening and dancing, between old and new, between formats, between mediums and between artists.” This philosophy allowed Phase Contrast to present wildly different sounds - from Birch’s serene ambience to acid-bass trance anthems - as part of a coherent artistic vision.
Birch’s background in sound design (she holds a bachelor’s degree) informed her technical approach, but her live performances remained improvisational. She’s described her concerts as both structured and spontaneous, balancing preparation with in-the-moment discovery. This approach extends to her work as a regular contributor to NTS radio, where her DJ sets showcase her broad musical interests beyond her own compositions.
Her performances at major electronic music festivals - including Mutek, Rewire, Unsound, and CTM - introduced her work to international audiences seeking music that offered alternatives to club-focused techno. “Humidity” became one of her most recognized tracks, appearing on numerous ambient playlists and earning praise from Bandcamp, which noted Birch was “hitting her stride as of late and making some of the best ambient music out there.”
Nana Pi’s Extemporize Method
Nana Pi brought more than saxophone to “Humidity” - she brought a philosophy. Her Extemporize method, developed through years of work in Copenhagen and Malmö’s experimental jazz scenes, treats improvisation as a language that can be conducted and shaped in real time. As bandleader of groups including Nezelhorns, Tactical Maybe, and Hyper Elastic Jinx, she’s explored how structure and freedom can coexist in improvised music.
Her collaboration with Birch on “Humidity” demonstrates how extended saxophone techniques - incorporating objects and unconventional playing methods - can integrate seamlessly with electronic ambient textures. Rather than treating saxophone as a solo voice over electronic backing, Birch’s production allows Pi’s instrument to become part of the sonic ecosystem, one element among many contributing to the track’s humid, organic atmosphere.
Pi’s quintet Nezelhorns was nominated for “Jazz Release of the Year” at DMA Jazz 2021, confirming her status as a significant figure in Scandinavian experimental music. Her work organizing events like Impro Camp and FredagsJAM has helped build networks within Copenhagen’s improvised music community, creating the conditions for cross-genre collaborations like her work with Birch.
Common Questions
Q: What does “Humidity” by Sofie Birch sound like? A: “Humidity” combines ambient electronic textures with experimental saxophone, creating warm, organic soundscapes that suggest both tropical environments and meditative inner spaces. The track emphasizes space and gradual development, with sounds layered to create what Birch describes as music that mirrors “the slow cycles of living and breathing vegetation.”
Q: Why does “Humidity” appear on two different releases? A: The track first appeared on the 2020 compilation Phase Contrast showcasing Copenhagen’s interCourse label artists, then in a revised form on Birch’s 2022 album Holotropica. The album version is shorter (3:13 vs 4:31) and benefits from additional production refinement during the extended creation of Holotropica between 2018 and 2022.
Q: What is holotropic breathwork and how does it relate to the music? A: Holotropic breathwork is a therapeutic breathing technique associated with meditation, healing, and self-awareness. Birch combines “holotropic” with “tropical” to create “Holotropica” - her vision of a place where music facilitates movement toward wholeness. “Humidity” embodies this concept through its warm, meditative atmosphere designed to support contemplative listening states.
Q: Who is Nana Pi and what makes her saxophone playing special? A: Nana Pi is a Copenhagen-based saxophonist, composer, and conductor educated at Malmö Conservatory. She’s developed unique extended techniques incorporating objects and unconventional playing methods, and created “Extemporize” - a music sign language for conducting improvisation that earned her the P8 Jazz Award in 2020. She leads multiple experimental jazz groups and organizes improvisation events in Copenhagen.
Q: What other albums has Sofie Birch released? A: Before Holotropica, Birch released Planetes (2019), Behind Her Name Chestnuts Fall Forever (2020), and Whisper Fold Brush (2021). She’s also released collaborative albums including Repair Techniques with Johan Carøe (2021) and Languoria with Polish vocalist Antonina Nowacka (2022). Her first releases were cassette EPs including Sketchy Commodity (2017) through Danish label Infinite Waves.
What stands out here is how completely Birch commits to the long arc of creation. There’s a kind of gentle persistence in her four-year relationship with this track—a willingness to step back, reassess, and refine until the sound finally aligned with the emotional truth she was chasing. That’s something I relate to deeply: when you’re trying to articulate a feeling that doesn’t have clear language yet, you often circle it for years before the shape becomes visible.
The interplay between Birch’s meditative production and Nana Pi’s imaginative sax vocabulary is compelling. Instead of leaning on the saxophone for drama, the piece folds it into the atmosphere, letting it breathe. The result is a track that feels both intimate and expansive, rooted in the organic cycles she references. It reminds me how powerful it is when ambient music isn’t trying to fill space but to clarify it—creating room for the listener’s own thoughts to surface.