2023 marks the expansion of traverse as a label, with the first volume of series “traversée” and an 11-track opus from Qetsy. We’re now back with the second edition of traversée - a space for producers to explore their own versatility. A border-free home for artists to share personal ideas, wherever they are from.

For this second volume, we are welcoming nine artists who, altogether, shape the vision of traverse through its diversity of music and places.

As always, we asked artists to share a few words about their track.

Lia Catreux: "From pressure to insouciance, like from bone to flesh, Gone with the dawn is an ode to hidden nights, where hope, dread, love, pride and all kind of repressed feelings use to reveal themselves the most. There is no unique story in it, only characters acting like they want, amongst 6 shades of Bass, ear splitting fxs, moonstrucks synths and a bit of magic."

Val Clipp: "I find it quite difficult to write about my music (or specific tracks) in general. I often tend to work intuitively with the absence of a concept, and just let the compositions unfold over multiple periods of (re-)building, sampling, scrapping and filtering processes. The best results are often achieved by accident."

Laenz: "For this track, somewhere during a hot bike ride, I felt compelled to make something punk-adjacent. I used to make a lot of guitar-driven music and haven’t picked it up in a while, so it was nice to play it for this tune. I suppose the track still leans on the more experimental side, but I think the angst of a punk-like demeanor still comes through in the track."

Laada: "Cavallo Vincenzo was my rocking horse. I used to take it with me outside the house, in the garden where the older kids parked their bikes. I would rock back and forth on Vincenzo, like a swinging pendulum, like a body on the dancefloor. I remember the reflections in its glass eyes, and the shiny black fur. That dimension of play and movement inspired this track and its sonic elements. The bass is racing, the three-dimensional rhythmic lines are the body moving through space, and the mood is the same one that flowed through me as I swayed through time and space with Vincenzo.”

Qetsy: "I think most of the tracks I make resemble me in one way or another. I like playing around with different types of textures, samples and especially rhythm, I've been told before that some of my tracks feel like there are many tracks in one (something I can identify with as a person as well haha). I like to keep things changing, moving constantly, both in life and music, that's why I chose the name "Migration" for this track. I'm a big believer in projecting intentions and desires onto the world as I see art not only as a means of personal expression but also as a tool and medium for shaping reality."

Ripio: "I wanted to explore the space between slow and fast rhythms, something between techno dancehall and jungle inspired breakbeats."

RONI: "This track is a reflection of my life at the moment things are hard mentally as my mother is sick but the world is spinning and good things keep coming into my life, which helps me go on. It’s what I wanted to express through all these elements that keep coming and hit one after the other. The sirens & wobble are expressing the constant tension that never disappears while the kick gives the pace & the strength to keep going after a dark moment."

helen island: "another island in the archipelago phasing flashing flying lighting hypno memories love don't let me go... be sure to die in love !"