upsammy - Bend (3SR)

March 1, 2021 - Dekmantel

If I am a grandfather clock, please place me outside in the woods among the trees from which I came. I will joyfully chime myself into a slow ruin of time.

Netherlands producer upsammy, aka Thessa Torsing, serves an eclectic meaty feast for the ears with her Bend EP, prioritizing the sharp metallic edges and reverent ancient-ish stimmung of melodic chimes, plus a glorious temporal plodding that feels like scrambling up a steep rocky mountain face while carrying something really heavy but really precious, such as your toddler or a loaded survival backpack. Torsing pays impeccable attention to detail in her compositions, juxtaposing sounds and percussive instruments that are audible contrasts but energetic complements, which results in a listening experience that is so visceral you find yourself swimming in—or marching right through—nearly real imagery. These four songs at times evoke a sense of curiosity without reservation, of time passing fatalistically onward, of sticks being tossed out onto the ground over and over again like animals that move nature around, of constant tinkering with an engine, or of being a giant in a tiny world around you trapped in a struggle of elementals. ☔