Another rising star in the already robust Danish constellation that has been lighting up the contemporary scene in recent years. Unconventional paths through pop and related genres, unveiled by the exemplary work of artists such as ML Buch, Astrid Sonne, and Elias Rønnenfelt. But when speaking of Aria Leth Schütze, one must speak of the meeting of seemingly opposing natures. Sparks of electricity in gentle convulsion with the voice and acoustic elements that obey a notion of open composition, in constant revelation. The immaterial geography that traverses so many landscapes, without ever confining itself to a safe haven.

Everything seems to stem from an essentially confessional inquiry. The friction resulting from this “inside-out” confrontation is thus the starting point for songs that are complex in their sensations and imagery, yet immediate in their encounter with the extra-physical. On the latest album, Ephemeral, Alto Aria incorporated contributions from Space Afrika and Croatian Amor—and even ventured into an absolutely unexpected interpretation of Olive’s 90s classic “You’re Not Alone.” A simply perfect connection, especially when considering the importance of transformative memory in Aria’s work.
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“By the late twentieth century, our time, a mythic time, we are all chimeras, theorized and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism; in short, we are cyborgs.” Donna Haraway

The American artist’s speculative universe has sown cross-cutting visions and cosmologies throughout today’s artistic practices. From the allusion to the name to the sonic magnetic field of the Glasgow-based producer, the shared aesthetic and social concerns are evident. Somewhere between the diffuse energy of Basic Channel records, DJ Python’s mellow beat, and the infinite echoes of Astral Industries, this is music of stripped-down electrical circuits for sensory comfort. Static crackles, quasi-melodies gravitate, and rhythmic webs converge, layer upon layer. A luxurious textural language that never ceases to progress, transmute, and implode.

Lusidiq emerged as a debut album anchored in a vast reef of people willing to shift perceptions of what has comfortably become known as ambient music. The formula of repetition, on its own, proved limiting and even caricatural. Here we find hybrid forms achieved through the alchemical distillation of a wide range of genres, eras, and approaches. Less sunlight and more lunar twilight made Shifted a particularly introspective chapter, beyond the physical crust. Spectral, yes, yet equally deeply restorative, Conna Haraway’s work offers clues to an increasingly promising future.
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