- Friday 3 July
The Copenhagen duo Vanessa Amara takes pride in creating music that defies fixed genre categories. With a rare sense of sonic textures and a great desire to experiment, their music flows in unpredictable directions, constantly shifting between fragmented pop music and classical chamber music.
It is music that challenges conventional structures, and the duo consisting of Birk Gjerlufsen and Sebastián Santillana has managed to impress internationally to such an extent that artists such as Two Shell and Rosalía have invited them to collaborate. Vanessa Amara appears on several tracks on Rosalía's latest masterpiece, LUX, and with their ability to fuse classical composition and experimental pop, they are certainly an excellent match.
However, it is just as interesting to experience Vanessa Amara on their own, as on their latest album café LIFE, which was released in 2025 on the influential Copenhagen label Posh Isolation. The album brilliantly demonstrates the duo's mastery when it comes to combining musical elements that at first seem surprising and absurd, but in their hands seem completely obvious.
Cut-up samples of pop vocals collide with electronic soundscapes and elements of an organ work by the great Danish composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, and out of these eccentric fragments emerges music that makes both the body and the brain waves dance. A truly original musical acquaintance that we look forward to experiencing at Roskilde Festival this summer.
