When We Dip: Rone Shares 'Verba Aliena' From Megaptera

French producer and composer Rone returns with ‘Verba Aliena’, a hypnotic excerpt from his expansive new album MEGAPTERA, out on the storied Parisian label InFiné. Taking its name from the scientific term for the humpback whale, MEGAPTERA is one of the most ambitious projects of Rone’s career, a record largely composed at sea off the coasts of Brittany and Réunion Island using a modular synthesizer and a set of melodic sketches built around an almost unreal idea: attempting to resonate with whales through music.

‘Verba Aliena’ captures the heart of that inquiry. Rather than chasing imitation, Rone works with reduction, drawing on research into cetacean vocalisation to pare his language down to frequency bands, repetition and suspended structures. The result is a piece where texture and pressure often stand in for traditional form, melody persisting but reshaped and folded inward. It is minimalism that feels less like a stylistic reference than a natural convergence, music that rewards deep listening rather than demanding attention.

The album it belongs to marks a clear shift in Rone’s path. Following ‘Room With a View’, his soundtrack to a performance created with the dance company LA(HORDE) that explored collapse and rebirth, he moved away from the city and toward the sea, extending his practice beyond the studio into a wider space of listening, exchange and fieldwork. Developed in dialogue with scientists, environmentalists, sailors and bioacousticians, and built with a modular system designed to project sound into the ocean, MEGAPTERA unfolds across fifteen tracks as a record of reduction and displacement. As Rone explains, the goal soon changed: it was no longer about whether his music could attract whales, but about learning to listen.

Few labels could be a more fitting home for a project this singular. InFiné, the Paris based imprint that released Rone’s debut EP ‘Bora’ back in 2008, has spent close to two decades blurring the lines between electronic, classical and experimental music, guided by its own playful motto, ‘easy music for the hard to please’. With MEGAPTERA, artist and label continue a long and fruitful partnership, and ‘Verba Aliena’ offers a beautiful window into one of 2026’s most thoughtful and immersive electronic records.

You can now listen to the full premiere of ‘Verba Aliena’ exclusively on When We Dip Radio. Enjoy!