Dreamhaze presents Ishq @ Strangebrew, 1 March
Arriving into Strange Brew on Sunday night, one found the space in an unusual configuration. Blankets and throws covered the floor, and people already sat down as the room began to fill. Even before the music started it was clear that Haze was aiming for something apart from the usual gig or club night format.
The concept behind Haze comes from organiser Jenner Finch, who says the event explores the idea that “music is liquid architecture, architecture is frozen music”.
“The music shapes the atmosphere, and the atmosphere in turn shapes how the music is experienced,” she explains. “What emerges is a reciprocal relationship between space and sound, each continually responding to the other.”
By the time the performances began the room felt quietly intimate. It was difficult to gauge exactly how full it was, partly because everyone was seated or reclining across the floor. But there were moments throughout the evening where the venue became almost completely silent. Ambient music often depends on the attention it’s given, and here the audience seemed open and receptive enough to let the sound draw them in.
The evening opened with a collaboration between Shivani Sen and electronic musician Glassfactory, for a performance blending Hindustani classical vocal music with delicate live electronics. Sen explained afterwards that the set consisted of her own improvisational interpretations of two ragas: Bhairav followed by Yaman. Delivered in the vilambit style, the performance unfolded organically, the improvisation and dialogue between the two musicians emerging naturally moment to moment. Sen’s voice felt both emotive and meditative, and before beginning she made clear that any form of listening was welcome. While I found myself transfixed by the visuals, there were a lot of closed eyes and bowed heads in the room.
It was striking to see this style of vocal performance placed firmly at the centre of the event. Too often voices like this appear as little more than sonic decoration in film or electronic music, used to evoke a vague sense of place or exoticism, but here the performance stood front and centre. It felt like a rare chance to appreciate the artistry of Indian classical music on its own terms.
Glassfactory’s electronics provided a delicate but complex counterpart. The set was full of layered textures, expanding into new registers when the vocals receded and pulling back again when Sen’s voice returned to the foreground. Part of the challenge of combining Indian classical music with Western electronic instruments lies in the difference between tuning systems. Glassfactory addressed this by using specialised software that allowed him to make microtonal adjustments to his synthesizers. The result was seamless. Familiar electronic textures underpinned unfamiliar musical structures, making the performance accessible while still preserving its distinct harmonic language.
Visually, the evening was just as striking. PNEUMATEK’s projections formed a cascade of flowing particles and points of light behind the performers, responding in real time to both sound and movement. Dancer Millie Vigars moved between contemporary and ballet influences, her choreography responding directly to the music.
What made the visuals particularly effective was how they tied everything together. The projections reacted to both the dancer and the music simultaneously, creating moments where all three elements felt locked together. During Ishq’s set, when the music developed a stronger pulse, there were points where the dancer’s movement visibly shaped the projections as the sound shifted around her. Those were the moments when the whole concept of the event really clicked.
Jenner describes the aim as creating dialogue between disciplines rather than hierarchy. “I think of the music as the ‘liquid architecture’ of the event,” she says, “as it shapes the dynamic emotional landscape. But it’s the surrounding elements — visuals, movement, touch and set design — that give this sonic architecture shape and form.”
Headliner Ishq then took the evening deeper into ambient territory. The project of Cornish composer Matt Hillier, Ishq has amassed a vast catalogue of releases over the past two decades, often exploring nature, spirituality and environmental themes through long-form electronic compositions.
Hillier’s work has encompassed a whole world of sound, and this definitely found itself more in the territory of early material like Orchid and Sama, rather than the slow, extended drone and drift of his more long-form pieces (2015’s Winter Light being a prime example). It was nigh-on impossible to tell as he shifted between tracks with almost imperceptible changes brought in slowly and sutley, so that every five minutes the crowd found ourselves in a totally new sonic world, without a solid idea of how we’d gotten there.
Ishq’s work has always drawn from the natural world, in both names and imagery associated with his releases, and it is perhaps because of this association that the music managed to sound organic and human, a real treat in the world of ambient music and IDM, which can so often veer into the sterile. There was more of a rhythmic pulse in this set, too, with more head-nodding around the seated crowd than the first set’s trancelike atmosphere.
What stood out most across the night was how attentive the audience remained. There was very little talking, and it quickly became clear that quiet listening was the unspoken norm. Jenner acknowledges that balancing social interaction with focused listening can be challenging.
“My favourite moments are when everyone is fully absorbed in the music and so quiet you could hear a pin drop,” she says. But she also recognises that connection between people is part of the experience too.
In Bristol’s music landscape, Haze feels like an interesting addition. The city has long been associated with club culture and experimental electronics, but Jenner sees the project as something of a cross-pollinator between scenes.
“Artists are collaborating across disciplines, audiences are moving between spaces, and there’s a real sense of momentum,” she says. “Haze draws from that energy, bringing different strands together in ways that reflect the city’s openness and appetite for experimentation.”
For ambient music in particular, events like this may point toward a compelling way forward. Turning music designed for introspection into a satisfying live experience has always been a challenge. By building an environment around attentive listening and sensory immersion, Haze offers one possible answer.
More than anything, though, the night succeeded because of the music itself. Sen and Glassfactory’s opening set felt like something genuinely special to witness in the room, while Ishq’s appearance carried real weight for long-time ambient listeners.
As a proposition for Bristol audiences, it worked remarkably well. And if Sunday’s event was any indication, Haze may have found a format that gives ambient music exactly the kind of live space it deserves.
//Words: Maik Keefe // Photography: Finn Crawley//