ugne&maria is the duo project of Ugnė Vyliaudaitė and Marija Rasa Kudabaitė, both based in Brussels. Their music is made from a mosaic of samples and carefully triggered field recordings, in dialogue with Vyliaudaitė’s violin. Intricate and calming but far from ambient, in that where ambient music recedes ugne&maria’s music sounds always close to the skin. The compositions are subtle and precise, setting up a logic and then gently manipulating it or letting it hover for several minutes. Elements move seamlessly from background to foreground and then return. Snatches of text or recognisable samples serve as textures rather than as location markers or figures to which one could reliably ascribe meaning. Despite the pattern like nature of the music (its non-narrative insistence), there is a literary quality here. While the electronics offer hints of house music or half-remembered techno, the violin bathes the entire thing in a wash of Old-World elegance, making it both softer and sadder.

When listening to this music, it is easy to imagine the enormous scale of samples and tracks that must be exchanged between the two musicians. Indeed, it is music made for a large part from sounds that have been found and traded. — Henry Andersen