Curated by Damian Barbeler, BackStage Music is about to present what it describes as a “retro-futurist hootenanny of experimental electronic music” – works by sound artists expresing their individual practices through the fusion of technology, machines and objects.

Visual musician Tim Gruchy is working alongside cellist Freya Schack-Arnott for the event. Gruchy’s sound work The Breast Stupa Suite forms the “musical bed” for their set, allowing Schack-Arnott to improvise above the ambient track.

“It gives me lots of creative license and liberty to do what I love doing… improvising over this very beautiful language” says Schack-Arnott.

Freya Schack-Arnott, Matthias Schack-Arnott and Ben Ward for SIMA’s Jazz:NOW Ep.2. Photo © Shane Rozario.

In a 50-minute set, both artists aim to emulate the tangibility of sound through texture and space. Speaking to Limelight, Gruchy talks about the performative element of electronic music, explaining how his use of hand movement and gesture to trigger sounds brings a tactile quality to his work. “It very much is trying to approach that level of expressiveness you get working with classical instruments.”

Using non-interactive...