Photo Credit: Leo Lopez
For several decades now, a subtle alchemy has been taking place between acoustic instruments and the world of electronics. As early as the 1950s, pioneers of musique concrète like Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry, and Karlheinz Stockhausen began amplifying, sampling, and transforming real-world sounds through electronic means.
Twenty years later, figures like Brian Eno and Jon Hassell introduced a more poetic and immersive fusion—merging synthetic textures with mechanical instruments. Since the 2000s, this meeting point has only grown more dynamic, fueled by the rise of digital tools and transdisciplinary practices.
Since its inception, MUTEK has been part of this ongoing sonic exploration. The 2025 edition offers a vibrant demonstration of this fusion, featuring a series of performances where strings, winds, voices, and percussion become living matter—transformed in real time through technology. Here are some of the highlights that promise a truly immersive and sensorial experience throughout the festival:
Shackleton, Wacław Zimpel & Siddhartha Belmannu: A Mystical Invocation
An elusive producer and co-founder of the legendary Skull Disco label, Shackleton has established himself as a key figure in ritual electronic music—crafting esoteric worlds of polyrhythmic percussion, mystical atmospheres, and meditative layers far removed from dubstep conventions.His boundaryless approach resonates with Polish composer and clarinetist Wacław Zimpel, who weaves a hybrid language across jazz, global traditions, and experimental electronics.
Joining them is Siddhartha Belmannu, a vocalist from Karnataka, India, trained from an early age in Carnatic music. He brings rare emotional depth to this classical tradition, bridging precision with openness.
Together, the trio delivers a timeless sonic ceremony where ancient song, bass clarinet, and modular electronics merge in a trance-like meditation on beauty, mortality, and the human condition.Ensemble, ils livrent une cérémonie sonore hors du temps, où chant millénaire, clarinette basse et électroniques modulaires fusionnent. Une performance immersive, libérée des structures conventionnelles, qui plonge dans une transe hypnotique et interroge la beauté, la mortalité et la condition humaine. This North American premiere is not to be missed — experience it live on Saturday, August 23 at Théâtre Maisonneuve as part of A/VISIONS 2.

James Holden & Wacław Zimpel: A Cosmic Alliance
UK electronic icon James Holden has evolved from early 2000s DJ to live performer, blending modular synthesis with spiritual jazz and improvisation. His custom-made instruments and in-house software blur the lines between organic and electronic, dancefloor and ritual.
Teaming up with Wacław Zimpel, the two build on their collaborative album The Universe Will Take Care of You—a continuous flow of alto clarinet and modular synths where ancestral music, minimalism, and raw textures melt into an organic trance.
On Wednesday, August 20, during NOCTURNE 1 at Espace SAT, they will present the Canadian premiere of this singular work — a deep dive into a sonic universe that is both intimate and expansive.

Ida Toninato & Pierre-Luc Lecours: The Breath of Possibility
Montreal experimental saxophonist Ida Toninato explores the deep resonances of the baritone sax in spaces where ambient, contemporary, and immersive music intersect. Her textured soundscapes of breath and silence find a perfect counterpart in Pierre-Luc Lecours, a composer and audiovisual artist whose modular synthesis and live visuals form a constantly evolving language between abstraction and emotion.
Together in Homeostasis, they shape an ecosystem of images, light, and sound under a dome—inviting us into a meditation on the fragile balance between acoustic matter and digital transformation. To be discovered in a world premiere during NOCTURNE 2 on Thursday, August 21.

Thisquietarmy & Mothrspace: Celestial Drones
A fixture in Montreal’s experimental scene for over 20 years, Eric Quach (thisquietarmy) is known for immersive works that blend ambient, drone, and post-rock. Brazilian-born multi-instrumentalist Bruna Wanderley Gonçalves (Mothrspace) merges processed cello, voice, and improvisation across experimental, metal, and Brazilian folk influences.
Their duo Flor do Cerrado is a raw yet delicate sonic meditation, where cello and guitar entwine in a vibrant soundscape of organic nature and electronic abstraction. To be discovered in a world premiere during NOCTURNE 3 on Friday, August 22.

Gendron, Myre & Tessier: The Art of Mutation
Montreal-based sound artist Aurélie Tessier brings together technical precision and critical social engagement. Guillaume Myre manipulates modular synthesis while orchestrating TouchDesigner visuals, and Dominique Gendron enriches the project with his augmented guitar—bridging digital processes and instrumental expressiveness.
Together in Morphose, they deliver a multimedia piece where acoustic instruments and digital realms blur into a suspended space of ambient, dub techno, and textural noise—a hypnotic audiovisual experience.
To be discovered in a Canadian premiere during NOCTURNE 4 on Saturday, August 23.
Ouri: Weaving Intimacy Through Sound
Montréal-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Ouri embodies the creative fusion at the heart of MUTEK. Born in France to Afro-Caribbean and French parents, she moved to Montreal at 16 to study composition and soon became a standout figure in the underground scene.
Fusing cello, synths, whispered vocals, and industrial textures, her 2018 EP We Share Our Blood (Ghostly) earned critical acclaim and led to collaborations with artists like Tokimonsta, Jacques Greene, and Yves Tumor.
At Théâtre de Verdure on Wednesday, August 20, she presents an intimate performance from her solo debut Frame of a Fauna, accompanied by visuals from Charline Dally—inviting audiences into a fluid emotional journey..

The Bionic Harpist & Techno Para Dos: Augmented Strings
With The Bionic Harpist, Montreal’s Alex Tibbitts transforms the harp into a cyborg instrument, using sensors and real-time processing. She is currently preparing her debut album IMPRESSIONS, slated for fall 2025.
Teaming up with Techno Para Dos (Raúl Villamil), a Mexican experimental producer, they present fran·gere—a meditative, poetic performance where modular synthesis and augmented harp resonate through a liminal sonic space of memory and vibration.
This world premiere will also take place on Wednesday, August 20 at the Théâtre de Verdure — a suspended moment between nature, technology, and sonic poetry, free and under the open sky.

Lisa Pulsatilla and Her Resonant Light
Berlin-born, Montreal-based flutist and composer Lisa Pulsatilla transforms breath into vibrating matter. With a custom pedalboard, she modulates flute loops, delays, and live effects into soothing polyphonic environments—where drone, melody, and silence coalesce.
Grounded in sensory memory, meditation, and deep listening, her performance offers a restorative sonic experience.
On Saturday, August 23, as part of the EXPÉRIENCE 5 series, she will present her live performance in a North American premiere at Esplanade Tranquille — an invitation to feel the healing power of resonance through an intimate and deeply soothing sonic journey.

The fusion of acoustic and electronic instruments is one of the most fertile dynamics in today’s musical creation. By weaving together tradition and innovation, raw emotion and digital processing, these artists reinvent how we listen—inviting us into new sonic landscapes shaped by sensitivity, technology, and experimentation.
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