Hua Li Reimagines Sophia Sanford’s World on Violet Gave Willingly: Remix Vol. 1

by the partae March 10, 2026

written by the partae March 10, 2026

The remix album Violet Gave Willingly: Remix Vol. 1 has officially arrived, and one of its most striking reinterpretations comes from Montreal-based rapper and multidisciplinary artist Hua Li. Released through producer and studio founder Sophia Sanford’s rural creative hub, Noise Machine Studio, the collaborative project brings together women and non-binary electronic artists to reimagine Sanford’s original compositions. The album expands the sonic world of Sanford’s earlier work while also serving as a community-building exercise—highlighting producers who remain underrepresented in the technical side of the music industry.

Sanford’s relationship with music has always been deeply personal. After spending her early years playing bass, piano, and trombone and touring internationally with choral and jazz ensembles, she developed a lasting fascination with the human voice and the textures of sound. That curiosity now informs both her production work and her role as a mentor at Noise Machine Studio, where artists gather to collaborate, experiment, and share knowledge. The remix album itself grows out of Sanford’s original record Violet Gave Willingly, which is closely tied to the award-winning documentary Violet Gave Willingly, directed by her sister Claire Sanford. The film centers on their mother, textile artist Deborah Dumka, offering an intimate look into her seaside studio as she reflects on memory, creativity, and a past long left unspoken. More than a portrait, the documentary unfolds as a conversation between mother and daughter—one that explores the generational impact of gender-based discrimination and the power that comes from speaking difficult truths.

Since its premiere, the film has received significant recognition on the festival circuit. It won Best Female-Directed Short at the Whistler Film Festival in 2022 and later earned a nomination at the Canadian Screen Awards in 2024. It has also screened internationally at major festivals including Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, DOC NYC, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, and Dokufest, as well as appearing in gallery installations and workshops focused on confronting systemic sexism and violence.

Within that broader artistic world, Hua Li’s newly released remix stands out as one of the project’s most inventive transformations. Rather than approaching the track as a conventional remix, she treated it as a creative dialogue with Sanford’s original ambient material. “I think of every remix project as a negotiation with—and homage to—the original work,” Hua Li explains. “But the nature of remixing an ambient piece meant that where often my first choice as a remixer is how much of the original vocal melody I want to keep intact, I had to change my approach.”

Instead of preserving Sanford’s vocals as a lead element, Hua Li used them as the foundation for the track’s sound design. “I chose to sample Sanford’s voice for the synth sounds throughout the track, and I love how it ended up mimicking a detuned analog synth,” she says. “Sampling Sanford’s original piece in this way gave a warm, organic depth to the remix that works in contrast with the starkly electronic drum sounds.” For Sanford, collaborations like this reflect the spirit behind the entire project: artists supporting one another while pushing the boundaries of electronic production. As Violet Gave Willingly: Remix Vol. 1 begins to reach listeners, the album stands not only as an artistic extension of the original work, but also as a collective effort—bridging film, sound, and personal history while opening more space for women and non-binary producers shaping the future of electronic music.