Sonica double bill: Shadwa Ali // Supermann on da beat

When coronavirus struck, our daily routines were interrupted and transformed literally overnight. While some longed for a swift return to ‘normal life’ as they had known it, others hoped that this enforced pause might allow us time to reflect on out-of-control projects of urbanisation and to rethink them for the post-virus world. Shadwa Ali’s film uses video footage and ambient sounds gathered from everyday life in lockdown, depicting environments whose eerie desertion has the charge of possibility: clearings from which new ways of being might spring.

Having first learned music production skills from YouTube videos, Scottish producer Supermann on da beat – aka Ayrshire’s Sanjeev Mann – has enjoyed a meteoric rise: he’s been the focus of a BBC documentary and his singles have featured on BBC Radio and in rundowns of the best Scottish songs of 2023. Mann’s new record BREATHE sees him turn vocalist for the first time: influenced by punk, hip-hop and grunge, these tracks advocate for disability rights and diverse perspectives, and recount his own incredible journey.