In every space, architectural or not, worlds of meaning echo in plain sight. Histories gather like layers of dust, memories are summoned into the present, and vital aspects of life (and death) go unremarked. The three artists in this event play with the tension of bringing such themes to light. Dylan Kerr’s artistic practice often starts with attuning to a site’s histories and unique resonant qualities. For Upstream, they present Substratum, a composition for voice and fixed electronics that draws inspiration from the Hindustani Dhrupad tradition. Playing from his 2022 album Ison, ABADIR—the solo project of Cairo-born music producer and sound designer Rami Abadir—revisits the cultural surroundings of Cairo for potential mutation, drawing on the Coptic, Syriac, Maronite, Greek Orthodox and Catholic choir chants he heard growing up in the city. Diving into the frantic instability of precarious headspace, Morgan Garrett wrestles with the sharp edges of life and death. In his performances, acoustic guitars are less played than daubed, and detuned, spidery electrics sputter and collapse.