Among the most interesting projects of the’European electronics contemporary, the duo formed by James Holden e Wacław Zimpel reaches the Colour Fest 14 at Day 1, Tuesday 11 August 2026, on the Riviera of Sunsets by Lamezia Terme.

Who they are

James Holden is an English producer who grew up in the progressive trance of the early 2000s, later becoming one of the key figures of the so-called cosmic music European: records such as “The Inheritors” e “The Animal Spirits” are manuals of electronic krautrock e modal jazz treated as psychedelic matter. Wacław Zimpel is a Polish clarinetist classically trained, active between avant-garde jazz, minimalism e Indian music. Their meeting is one of the most fruitful collaborations of the decade.

The sound

The duo works on the long time, on the repetition, on the modal trance. Holden manoeuvre modular synthesisers, electronic drums and generative patches; Zimpel weave bass clarinet, Laotian khaen, melodic. The result is music kinetics e contemplative together: hypnotic, built to be listened to in open spaces, outdoors, possibly at dusk.

Why it works at Color Fest

La Riviera of Sunsets is not a slogan: light on the Falcone and Borsellino promenade, around 9 p.m. of August, è that golden light seen in few places in Italy. A set of Holden e Zimpel in that context is exactly the formula cosmic music + Mediterranean landscape for which there are festivals by the sea.

When and where

James Holden & Wacław Zimpel — Colour Fest 14, Day 1, 11 August 2026, Lamezia Terme. Official artist page e tickets.

👉 Buy Color Fest 2026 tickets now - three-day passes and single-day tickets on DICE. The only two Italian dates of some of our guests are here, on the Riviera of Sunsets.

Color Fest XIV - 11 / 12 / 13 August 2026 - Lamezia Terme - Riviera dei Tramonti - Calabria. Summer on a Solitary Beach.