Dekmantel proudly announces Zoom, Thessa Torsing’s first full-length album as upsammy. Since 2017, she has developed a signature style in front of listeners eyes and ears: hers is a mesh of airy tones, tender melodies and highly technical drum patterns which wrap around the body of the song like colourful thread around a metallic spindle. Zoom is scheduled to release on June 8, 2020.
Zoom, a refinement of her sound and an expansion of its ambition, is evidently electronic yet seems to float some way off beyond the glow of a screen. The title is an invocation for people to look a little closer at their surroundings and replenish their stock of wonder: “People can be consumed by really big or ‘fantastical’ things in life, but don’t see the small things that have great emotional, artistic or even spiritual value…I’ve always had a lot of curiosity for my surroundings, trying to grasp, understand and be amazed by what is around me.” Zooming in is central to the album’s dominant theme, but also essential to its internal programming.
Across the 11 tracks on Zoom are moments that sharpen your focus then throw you off guard. On “It Drips,” a chunky beat conjures the image of a stomping machine. Not so – within seconds a gentle frosting of notes begins to emerge atop the song before a lead melody yawns into view. This technique recurs on “In A Shade”, where buzzy static around the margins of the track and a robust low-end are merely the sediment for the song to grow into another form altogether.
Light comes in two varieties on Zoom. On one hand, there is the lightness of touch which gives the songs in the second half of the LP an airborne quality in spite of their complexity and quickening pace. “Extra Warm” clips ahead above the 170bpm mark, bubbling and churning as it goes. On “Overflowering,” opposing leads chase one another about, like a “Flight Of The Bumblebee” rendered for the IDM generation, leaving miniature contrails in their wake. But then, there is literal light too, as on the album cover, which upsammy took herself. “The picture is a piece of ice coming from a glacier in Switzerland,” she says. “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.”
The packaging for Zoom contains yet more reminders of the everyday – from associated imagery and text and videos, all compiled and executed by upsammy, to a limited clear vinyl pressing as part of Dekmantel’s physical release. Early support has already come from Ben UFO, Lena Willikens, Oceanic, Phillip Jondo and Call Super, who described it as “the sound of potential fulfilled in the sweetest way. Making music that is both singular and humble is something only very few can achieve and upsammy’s vision is a passing raft in a strange and patchy sea.” Zoom is upsammy’s most comprehensive release to date, something she remarks is “a closer and truer look into my work right now”.
upsammy ‘Zoom’
Release date: 08/06/2020
Track List:
A1. upsammy – Melt In My Heated Hands
A2. upsammy – Growing Out Of The Plastic Box
A3. upsammy – It Drips
B1. upsammy – Subsoil
B2. upsammy – In A Shade
B3. upsammy – Echo Boomed
C1. upsammy – Send-Zen
C2. upsammy – Overflowering
D1. upsammy – Extra Warm
D2. upsammy – Twisted Like A Flame
D3. upsammy – Reality Paces The Platform
Format: 2 x 12” LP + Clear vinyl + Poster (edition of 100) / 2 x 12” LP
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