Aquaventure^CA/QC

As the portmanteau suggests, Sammy Halimi’s Aquaventure project descends somewhere deep and lush: trippy broken beats resonate as if they’re ringing out in subterranean ecosystems, and minimalist dub grooves slither like luminescent sea creatures on the ocean floor. Halimi’s musical incantations seem attuned to an otherworldly wavelength, allowing him to incorporate the legacies of house and IDM into the emotional fabric of his pulsating compositions and live sets.

Born to a family of Algerian origin in Montréal, Halimi preceded his music career as a photo director and sound editor for film—interested in framing where urban landscapes push up against the natural world. While developing a labyrinthian body of work on Soundcloud, he crafted a real-life counterpart for live performance through Zona, a series of live electronic concerts taking place in Halimi's own home. Inviting electronic contemporaries to share their live work in a reflective setting with custom lighting, the series liberated musicians and audience from the noisy commerce of bars and clubs. In addition to appearances on Montréal’s n10.as online radio station, a collaboration with RAMZi is also in the works, following the duo’s recent journey to play together in Mexico. Halimi’s creative process is always in flux, incorporating improvised percussion and live synths as a way of translating emotion into its sonic equivalent. The result is tangible: in the quieter moments, plucked strings feel so personal that just listening feels voyeuristic, and when organic, patterns gel with the other elements of the track, it escalates to searing, wide-eyed, youthful energy.

Aquaventure brings his watery underworld to the outdoor stage at MUTEK—with a tapestry of sounds plucked from the ethereal realm and a live set that establishes a sonic ecosystem all of its own.