Germ In A Population Of Buildings

On her sophomore album "Germ in a Population of Buildings", upsammy moves through her surroundings with thecuriosity of a place-bending landscape architect. The album is rooted in her interest for ambiguous environments inconstant shift, and the feeling of discovering strange patterns in different ecosystems. Often, the Amsterdam-basedartist finds herself zooming in and out beyond a place's most recognizable surface features to inhabit the microscopicand gigantic. Gathering field recordings and evocative environmental sounds, she shapes this source material intovibrating electro-acoustic rhythms and unstable, psychedelic textures.upsammy's debut album, 2020's critically-acclaimed "Zoom", was praised for it's careful reimagining of IDM, evolvingvignettes that nodded towards the dancefloor without being shackled to it's rigid set of rules. On "Germ in a Populationof Buildings" her process has evolved considerably; the skeletal trace of IDM is still present but it's been trapped inamber, allowing her unique sonic landscape to develop organically. 'Being is a Stone' is a proof of concept in manyways, layering upsammy's contorted voice in rickety patterns beneath a lattice of fragile rhythms and faintly melancholysynths. It's never immediately obvious where the sounds are coming from - a hiccuping beat might be glass crackingunderfoot, and larger pulses could be wet concrete, rusted iron or bent plastic. As the sounds develop they morph intoeach other, demolishing what came before and building on top of the ornamental wreckage.On the dynamic 'Constructing', upsammy's sound design fluxes through hyperactive bass music structures, abstractingexpectations at every turn. Often her sounds are whisper quiet, rattling and vibrating until heavier masonry drops anddisrupts the structure. And when discernible rhythms subside into the background, like on the album's eerie title track,they become almost illusory, morphing between the real world and the electronic. Upsammy's processed voice workslike a bridge between these realms, snaking between stark, whimsical melodies on 'Patterning', arching from AutoTuneddetachment into cooing, dreamy intimacy. By considering the harmonies between each location she's visited, upsammyhas been able to build a unique topology that's an uncanny digital amalgam of her lived experience. It's a thoughtfulalternative in an era more concerned with flatting the landscape than crumpling it and examining it's peaks and troughs.