Avsluta (Lucie Stepankova) moves with quiet precision, tracing the lines between ambient stillness and rhythmic motion. As a London-based sound artist, DJ, live performer, and curator, she explores the spaces where sound lingers and transforms.

Her set at Mostra Festival 2023 left a lasting impression. A seamless journey through moods and tempos, carried with effortless elegance. It felt only right to invite her to Unrush, and now here we are finally.

For this mix, Lucie dives into deeper ambient landscapes, showing the same thoughtful sensitivity that shapes her work. Over the past decade, Lucie has refined her musical voice behind the counter at Phonica Records, guiding London’s ambient and downtempo seekers most Saturdays, building connections, sharing music, and fostering community along the way.

She’s the founder of Introspective Electronics, a platform for radio shows, guest mixes, and listening events. Together with producer and DJ Alicia, she also curates Terra Obscura, an intimate club night series devoted to slower, introspective sounds.

This DJ set holds that same spirit: a quiet invitation to slow down and listen...

AVSLUTA on the web:
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/avsluta
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/introspective_electronics
Website: https://introspective-electronics.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avsluta_

UNRUSH on the web:
Bandcamp: www.unrush.bandcamp.com/
Hardwax: www.hardwax.com/label/unrush/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/_unrush

Cover artwork by Irakli Kiziria

Tracklist:
Le Motel - A Conversation Under the Night Sky (Cuộc chuyện dưới trời đêm)
Kocho no Yume - Kakuriyo
Ameeva - Bajo la sombra del Sol
Autumn Of Communion - Interval One 
Andy Cartwright - Jade Surface
Perila - Fallin Into Space
Mick Chillage - McMurdo Blues
Endurance - Sunrise
Anasisana - Reasoning
Igor Dyachenko - Depth Camera
Zaumne - Éther
ØjeRum - Vi Hængte Vores Harper I Piletræerne For Enden Af Dalen
Aleksi Perälä - FI3AC2410603

095 - Unrushed by Avsluta

݁ᛪ༙ 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑠 ݁ᛪ༙
               
                 ✧₊⁺🕯⋆.˚୨ৎ

Dance like you're an animal that's living in an ecosystem and you will be living the truth. Move your body to the music__more technically, contract and relax the muscles in time with the beat and you'll be dancing. Ignore the nay-sayers that believe in nothing that can be proven whilst disbelieving that which science has proven (beyond a reasonable \ informed persons doubt). Feel the bones as you move to the vibration of the music. Understand that certain sounds, environments, social situations, will increase adrenaline that may increase the beat of your heart.  

Be wise, many are lost in the music. Educate, but, some won't learn how to listen. Nurture being humble especially when dealing with the arrogant. Humans specifically, are nothing special  (i.e., believing we are greater than nature is nothing but hubris, & that ignorance is causing environmental neglect) 

There is an objective reality that can be known (understood at some level or another). We do live and breath on a planet that's orbiting a star (the Sun) How would you infer that fact in some music? Song? (lyrics) or, for example, a sound that tried to represent the 'massiveness' of the planet that we live on? Or for example, if we could hear the sound of one hydrogen atom, what would it sound like? What is a cold or hot sound? a hard or soft sound? A high or low sound? A red or blue sound? We can detect \ see the differences in frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum between the colour red and blue. We can hear the difference in frequency (pitch) between a "C" & an "D" note. Music is somewhat subjective (mind). However, sound is objective. Vision is somewhat subjective. However, light is objective. 

I've been a passionate music listener for many years. Over thirty years ago whilst under the influence of cannabis (if you choose to, use, e.g., vape, cannabis sparingly. i.e., ask, is this helping my well-being?), I had such an 'out of the ordinary' experience whilst listening to music, that ever since that event, I’ve believed that music is the answer, the solution, to many of societies' woes. Thirty years later my understanding of the effect of music, and sound in general, on human behaviour, is more of a science than a mere faith (belief) For example, sound in general is “out there” (changes in air pressure). Sound is an objective, a physical, quality (objective reality). However, music is in our minds (but, it’s properties are now electro-chemical). Music is subjective in that music is what our brains perceive under certain circumstances (timing, pitch [AKA frequency], etc.) Whilst humans do show a preference for different genres of music, what we perceive as musical are sounds that have certain qualities, and the dominant musical quality is timing. Or to be more precise, a repeating quality that we can recognise, and typically, sense some pleasure in for it to be experienced as musical’. Why are we able to recognise the difference in pitch? An “A” note from a “C” note? Why are we able to recognise the the difference between green and red? The why is due to our evolved physiology. It was, it is, evolutionary beneficial to be able to recognise the colour of ripe fruit, for example. To recognise the difference between a friendly or angry sound (human or non human animal). Fundamentally, our ability to perceive and appreciate music is an evolutionary adaptation. Furthermore, humans are “wired” to be social animals. Music can bring us together. 

I understand that music can change cultures, and that cultures do need to change (will change radically, one way or another)__especially in regards to taking far more care of the environment, and one another. In one sense, apathy or neglect  for the environment, for nature, is simply due to a lack of awareness (consciousness). Time waits for no person. The environment won’t wait for us to recognise, to learn, that we need to sustain it (to sustain ourselves) Therefore, the solution is to raise awareness about the environment. For example, to provide excess to the form of education so that people develop the comprehension, the understanding about what clouds are (water vapour) and how clouds form. That understanding, in of itself, is a step towards understanding that we live in an ecosystem (that’s a good place to start)

Many of the people I’ve met, including family members that I’ve known since I was a child, don’t understand that they’re animals living in an ecosystem. In fact, out of all the myriads of animals that exist on planet Earth, only a percentage of humans understand themselves enough to understand that they're animals. Whilst studies using mirrors suggest that our closet "cousins" chimpanzees have a sense of self, it would be guess work, in other words I doubt it very much, to think that chimps know that they're chimps. The term chimpanzee, is a human construct. We know that chimps are our closest living relatives because we can study anatomy and genetics, etc. We know that humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor that lived millions of years ago because of fossil records and genetics. That common ancestors lineage diverged into what later evolved to be today's chimpanzees and humans. Although, during that time, millions of years, many human looking animals, AKA the hominid “family”, went extinct. Why did, for example, Neanderthals go extinct? The answer is, we don't know! (there are a few scientific ideas, but no conclusive evidence to why. E.g., the Neanderthals didn’t leave any written records)

The lack of awareness of objective reality that some humans express as ignorance & or arrogance, or rather can’t express as intelligence, is because of a lack of a type of intelligence, and false beliefs, misinformation in general, that has and is preventing people from accommodating fact based information. Rhetorically, how can people care about that which they don't understand? Fortunately, developing a general scientific literacy increases a persons general level of intelligence. But, there is the rub, a sort of 'catch 22'. You can only become aware just how much a general scientific literacy will increase your general understanding, once you've reached a point in which you have developed a certain level of scientific literacy. In simple terms, you have to develop the intelligence to have the intelligence to comprehend that you are an animal living on a planet (in an ecosystem). That is profound. You live on a Planet that’s orbiting a star! (wow!) The only way to develop that type of informed intelligence is by learning the science. The chemistry, the biology, the ecology, for example. 

That does not mean you need to have a science degree, for example. A general scientific literacy is a general understanding of the fundamental sciences such as chemistry and physics. That awareness can be developed via the many ways that there are to learn, to be informed, of science. People learn in different ways. I for one, enjoy listening to a science podcast whilst out walking. Or for example, reading up on how clouds form, then going outside and using that knowledge to appreciate clouds (to perceive clouds or the “sun” for what they are. e.g., water vapour & a giant gaseous object)

Sure, generally, science isn't as "simple" as learning your “A,B,C’s” (not that that is "simple") because science studies objective and subjective reality. However, like learning anything, even learning how to ride a bicycle, eventually, it becomes like 'second nature'. Humans are nature, Humans are animals. Humans do have an effect on the environment & one another (psychology). And, humans need the environment in order to sustain their societies. Polluting nature is the sign of ignorance. The cause is often a combination of greed & ignorance. 

Basically, any ideas, any ideology, any faith, that infers, that believes, that perceives that humans are NOT part of the planets natural systems, the Earths ecosystem, is not only wrong, it's harmful. However, in some ways humans are a special species. More specifically, as well as our human 'type' of intelligence, we're also highly social animals. We can cooperate to 'save the planet', (the best of our nature), or we can compete, which often brings out the worst in us, and degrade the planet's natural systems (including climate change)

If people don't take that first step towards becoming scientifically literate, they will never know what it is that they're missing out on (a more informed perception of reality). So, and this goes out to a general audience, do yourself & your society a favour and begin the journey of learning about objective reality. A good place to start because it’s a fundamental science, is by reading or listening to a book about chemistry, because, just about everything is chemicals (e.g., molecules that consist of the fundamental elements such as carbon and hydrogen) 

Furthermore, even understanding only the basics of neuroscience for example, will mean that music producers can make even better “brain” music (brains are electro-chemical in nature), 

To quote "We believe in the power of music to promote the cultural change needed to create a better future"  https://www.musicdeclares.net/gb/

Человек с другой планеты

Yoga Master of Disaster
Activist
Global IT Entrepreneur

U N R U S H is an experiment in sound, a crystalline vision of eternal pause. Through our record label, podcasts, interviews, and event series we focus on presenting a diverse array of alluring ambient music. With each guest contribution we search for a serene space within the mind that is free from the encumbering stresses of daily life. Our events will act as a platform for distinguished artists and take place in stunning cultural surroundings both in the city and in nature, taking a step away from the pounding hedonism of the club to showcase the other side of electronic music.

- no podcast inquieries or demos please -

The former home of Jagger and the Bat and now here lives only the Bat (living in different continents will do that to a DJ duo). But worry not all the old Jagger and the Bat mixes are here as well as my own solo outings not to mention all of the old Arthouse podcasts ready for you to get your greasy mits on. Have at it.