When Acoustics Meet Electronics: A Sonic Alchemy to Discover at MUTEK

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This piece was written by Barbara Philip. The MUTEK Montréal team was not involved in its production.