Darkly beautiful, restless visuals, noise and soundscapes within a massive fog of sub bass, SCALD is the experimental alias of London-based Derek Szeto, pushes the boundaries of electronic music with intense soundscapes and visual performances.
Light / Dark, Grace / Violence, Lucidity / Delirium, Ethereal / Brutal, Tranquility / Rage, Creation / Destruction, Ecstasy / Agony; it is all of these things coexisting in the same piece: rapidly and spontaneously shifting from the calm to the storm and all grades of experience in between, transcending the entirety.
Formed to work deeply with live performers, vocalists and instrumentalists, SCALD blends fierce improvisation, distortion, and abstract beat structures, creating work alongside Luxul, SWARMM, Eden Grey, Marco Donnarumma, Mick Harris, Xenia black, Sharon Gal, UKAEA, Force Majeure to name a few.
More recent collaborations involve working with dancers, creating live motion-sensor generated sound and visuals.
Scald has performed 360 AV at Shangri-La in Glastonbury, Splice Festival London, Desonanz Macedonia, and has brought the show to Sonic Bloom Festival in Seoul, South Korea, performing alongside luminaries like Suzanne Ciani, NoNoTak and Ryoichi Kurokawa
Sonically, Szeto also produces music under guises like Stormfield, SCALD, Fausten and sometimes collaborates with Quietus-supported artist UKAEA. As Stormfield, he is a DJ of 30 years experience and has done mixes for Rinse FM, Boiler Room, Electronic Explorations and many others.
Visually, Szeto creates and performs for Scald and is resident visual creator and tour VJ for Mick Harris, UKAEA, African Head Charge and visual content creator/performer for festivals like Katharsis (Amsterdam), Bau! (Gijon) and Mugako (Bilbao), Ozora Festival (Hungary), Houghton Festival (UK), FOLD (London), Crux AV London, as well as being videography work for Metamorphika Studio and Futur. Shock in London.