Dense forests and moody beaches are the ever-changing and mysterious environments that Thessa Torsing explores to find inspiration. The 37th FIBER podcast is as diverse as these landscapes and Thessa, aka upsammy, is our fearless field guide that help us to traverse a variety of sonic impressions. Through her organic and yet uncompromising style, upsammy presents us an hour long journey composed of impressions and emotions evoked by these natural spaces.

upsammy is a rising star in the scene. She started her sonic journey playing guitar in several bands. Around the age of 17 she started DJ-ing and producing and when she played a DJ-set at local Utrecht radio station Stranded.fm things took off. Nowadays, she has regular bookings at De School in Amsterdam, travels the world, and was recently mentioned by Resident Advisor as one of the 5 key acts of Amsterdam Dance Event 2018.

In addition to her DJ-sets, Thessa also produces. Early on she found inspiration in a fusion of echoing guitar sounds, deep house and trance-inspired tracks. In 2016, she changed direction to find her own, more organic and psychedelic sounds and rhythms. In 2017, a few of her tracks were included on the Nous’klaer release Paerels and this changed everything. February 2018 she released her first EP Another Place which got international attention.

With a background in Image and Media Technology at the Utrecht University of the Arts Thessa also draws inspiration from the visual arts. For this podcast she choose an image of Andrei Tarkovsky’s film The Sacrifice (1986) as artwork. The Russian writer and director is known for films such as Solaris and The Stalker, and is considered by cinephiles to be one of the greatest directors in the history of film.

The Sacrifice is a film renowned for its uncommonly long takes and deals with faith and religion. The long take gives the film a slow evolving and glacial character with the beautiful shots of the Baltics nature the image perfectly suits this organically evolving spiritual mix.

upsammy joins NKISI, Szare, CAO & Michael Tan and more at the Sensory Shifts Club & Performance Night at OT301 on Saturday, 1 December. The night is presented as part of the first edition of FIBER Weekends 2018.