upsammy - Zoom

Published on 2020-06-19 00:00:00 by Matt Hardy

Zoom, the anticipated full length album from upsammy, lives up to expectations.In many ways, this LP is typical of the signature style Thessa Torsing has crafted in mixes over the last few years such as those for Dekmantel Festival. Building on her previous release (Branches on Ice on Die Orakel) Zoom falls somewhere in between the realms of ambient, experimental, electro, electronica, techno, tribal and possibly other genres too.Complex rhythmical structures feature throughout which are intertwined with mesmerising floating melodies. Delicate high end frequencies round off the tracks, creating a sense of wholeness of an accomplished producer. Moreover, there is a sense of playful unpredictability throughout, something that may typically be associated with the likes of Apex Twin. This resonates into the album as a whole: it’s free flowing, it’s transient and you’re never quite sure what direction Zoom will take.As the track titles and album artwork suggest, this album feels inextricably attached to nature. It’s not just the field recordings that achieve this there is an earthly sense to the tracks with the sonic scenes they create. Yet, as the name Zoom highlights, nature is full of moving transitionary moments that the album tries to capture. In nature, like in Zoom, states are temporary: seasons change, plants die, flowers grow there is a constant yet often unseen movement. Thessa’s description of the cover photo, taken herself, implicitly highlights the inspiration that nature provided, as well as its temporariness: “There was a beautiful moment as the sunlight bounced through it, and I could see all these nice lights in the ice. The fact that this piece of ice is now gone but still captured is a symbol of transience, so to speak.” Perhaps if we stop the “zoom” of our daily lives for a moment we can see this more clearly.An album should be telling a story and that’s definitely the case here. Whilst each track has its own unique nuances, they all fit nicely together to create a bigger picture in Zoom.

Written by Matt Hardy