NEW RELEASE: Biliana Voutchkova – Giorgos Varoutas ‘Little Sae’
Mixed by Giorgos Varoutas
Mastering (CD): Nikos Dimitrakakos
Mastering (LP): Taylor Deupree (12k)Artwork Design: Vicky Aggelopoulou
Artwork Photography: Gerasimos PlatanasRecorded at Underflow, Athens, December 2024
Little Sae comes from a very specific moment in December 2024, when we met for the first time and spent a few days recording and performing together at Underflow in Athens. We didn’t plan a concept or look for a direction in advance – we just played, listened, and followed the guidance of our communicating sounds. One year later, this release is our way of celebrating that meeting, the openness of those days, and the deep understanding and affection we found for the strange, delicate world that emerged between us.
Little Sae traces the meeting point of two distinct sonic forces: the raw, immediate presence of violin and voice, and the volatile, shape-shifting space of live electronics. Fragile tones, murmurs, grainy bow strokes, and tiny acoustic gestures slip into dense electronic atmospheres; processed layers dissolve again into the bare intimacy of the source. The boundaries between instrument, body, and processed sound dissolve – textures merge, fracture, evaporate, and re-form. What begins as a whisper of horsehair on string may unfold into an otherworldly resonance; what feels electronic may reveal itself as the trace of a single breath. The music moves in this continuous flow, resisting genre and leaning instead into curiosity, trust, and real-time transformation.
The name Little Sae surfaced during this short residency. It appeared directly out of the creative process – a small syllable sung intuitively alongside the word “little” while Biliana was improvising. We didn’t know its meaning at the time. Only later did we discover its Japanese resonance: Sae (さえ / 冴え) – clarity, crispness, lucidity, the feeling of winter air before dawn, the sharp brightness of something suddenly becoming clear. It felt uncannily right for the atmosphere of these recordings, almost as if the music had quietly named itself.
The album holds the spirit of that week exactly as it unfolded: raw, spacious, unpredictable, and completely alive inside the acoustic–electronic exchange that naturally shaped it.
The release comes in multiple formats:
– A collectible 10″ lathe-cut vinyl LP, featuring two main tracks.
– A beautifully printed 4-page digipack CD.
– DIGITAL edition.