MUTEK | Valentina and upsammy, Tactile and Atmospheric

For her second appearance at MUTEK 2025, Italian percussionist Valentina Magaletti returned to the stage at the Society for Arts and Technology yesterday, this time in a duo with Dutch producer Thessa Thorsing, aka upsammy. Together, they delivered tactile, atmospheric music that oscillated between rhythmic density and melodic clarity.

Their story began in 2023, when a commission from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam led them to explore the museum’s acoustic spaces. This immersion gave rise to a rich soundscape, nourished by resonances, listening to the architecture, and the meeting of two sensibilities. This collaboration has now been extended into a performance that serves as a prelude to their first joint album.

On stage, upsammy remixes recordings live using loops and granular synthesis, while Magaletti weaves his beats on drums, vibraphone, and various objects. Their textures blend together, making it difficult to distinguish between percussive gestures and electronic processing. Furthermore, Thorsing’s sensitivity was particularly evident in his meticulous work of transformation and recomposition, giving rise to constantly shifting soundscapes. At the same time, Magaletti’s jungle and drum and bass-influenced drumming blurred the lines, creating an ever-changing soundscape.

The audience was carried away by this shifting narrative during the 40 minutes of their performance, between improvised momentum and sketched structures, where echoes of drum and bass, techno, and electroacoustics emerged. Their sonic dialogue stood out as an invitation to explore, as if the sound itself were guiding the listener through a tapestry of architectural resonances and palpable emotions.

This encounter at MUTEK revealed a duo in full creative bloom, capable of transforming the stage into a veritable living laboratory. A promise that heralds an upcoming album as daring as their stage encounter at MUTEK.