vals + Dashka are collaborating on two ambient sets this year at the Refuge stage. They create immersive sonic textures by weaving together sampled instruments, field recordings, and ethereal monosodium glutamate. They began playing music together in 2012 creating silly RC20 loops using ancient percussive typewriters, glottal flips, prehistoric Casios, found cassette tapes, and pianos haunted by wild ghost horses. This will be their first show together since the beforetimes. You know the ones. Rhymes with shmovid shmockdown. If you’re looking to be enveloped by a soft smooshy velvet cloud, you’ve come to the right place. Come unfurl with us like the sweet baby fern that you are.

vals:

“It’s like if Unsolved Mysteries was produced by Soul Train.”

vals is a sound artist and composer living in Portland, OR. They create composite sonic environments using audio programming techniques, field recordings, and live-instrument sampling. Their work explores the whimsicality of listening, ASMR study session playlists, and whether a hammock can be made from vibrating air particles. 

Dashka:

Performing as Dashka, Dasha Shleyeva is a somatic educator, visual artist, and therapeutic musician weaving sound and embodiment into restorative experiences. Informed by clinical harp therapy studies and therapeutic music, their offerings blend improvised harp with otherworldly vocals and field recordings to create immersive, spell-casting loops and soundscapes. Their work centers reciprocity, autonomy, and shared joy between all beings.

Website