Amsterdam-based duo, No Plexus, are no strangers to creating sonic spaces that push boundaries while remaining intimate, playful, and melodic. They have established a distinct presence in the experimental music scene due to their ability to move fluidly between electronic pop and contemporary classical compositions while immersing listeners in their multi-sensory performances. Over the course of their three-year tenure as Rewire’s Young Artist in Residence (2023–2025), No Plexus have honed their command of intricate sound design and developed new ways for sound to evoke emotion and narrative. They concluded their residency by premiering a new audiovisual performance in collaboration with scenographer Amalia Jaulin at Rewire 2025, marking a new step in their creative journey as an artistic musical duo.
In this interview, No Plexus – Brechtje van Dijk (Bec Plexus) and Allison Wright – reflect on their time as Rewire’s Young Artists in Residence, discussing how their approach to sonic experimentation has evolved. Moreover, they also shed light on how their collaborative process balances individual ideas and shared creativity, and how they integrated personal, digital, and audiovisual elements into their world premiere performance.
You spent a couple of years as part of the Young Artist in Residence trajectory at Rewire. Reflecting on that experience, how has your approach to sonic experimentation changed? What insights have most influenced the ways in which you work together?
Allison: Bec and I started making music together initially because we loved doing everything together and it just felt natural that that should also include music. We didn’t exactly know what kind of music we wanted to make, but we had a lot of big conceptual ideas for creative projects – like over-the-top music videos, performance formats, things like that. And we both loved so many different genres of music. So, initially we made music that served our wildest dreams. Once we were about half way through our first tour (Rite of Passage), we started to explore writing tracks beginning only with sound and without using conceptual frameworks. It was a really interesting process because even though we knew each other so well, we discovered that there was a whole new frontier that we could explore together. What followed was kind of like flirting, but in a creative way. We showed each other a lot of tracks and reference materials from our biggest influences, and watched eagerly to see if the other would respond with the same kind of passion or emotional response. Now we have a pretty clear image of each other’s sonic world – which of course includes knowing everything from what each of us considers a “guilty pleasure,” as well as what each of us would aspire to express. The overlap in our creative Venn diagram is pretty big (and also seems to be constantly expanding), which is really exciting.
Can you walk us through how you developed the audiovisual show you presented as the closing act of your Young Artist in Residence journey at Rewire 2025?
Bec: It was the core of the onion. After we played our album, Rite of Passage, live at Rewire 2023, the grandiosity and political theatricality of that show quickly started feeling old. We realised that it didn’t feel entirely sincere – it was strongly inspired by other artists and leaned heavily on the conceptual. We slid into a process of shedding layers on this imaginary onion. We realised we wanted to express something far more personal, and simultaneously wanted our sonic and visual aesthetic to be more timeless and evocative.
Things really started to take shape when we started collaborating with scenographer Amalia Jaulin. Just like our music combines the physical (i.e., the voice) with the digital, we found a similar interplay in the stage design by combining massive textile handcrafted banners with light design. The banners were covered in abstract silver-painted symbols that changed from feeling ancient to futuristic when the light shifted.
We have so many memories of fruitful but long, long days leading up to that premiere. We were a tiny team with a huge job to do. Programming the light design for days on end. Caroline Dussuel collected all kinds of fabric scraps and metal trinkets to create our stage wear. An attic covered from one end to the other with textile, with Amalia behind a little desk, melting glue in the shape of symbols onto the banners. Every second of the show was accounted for – with musical transitions and intentional movements and all. In the end, we ran on stage a minute late, only just having put the final dots on the final i’s. Halfway through the set, it really sank in how much had happened in those years with Rewire’s support. Some tears may have been shed that night.
Watch "No Plexus - Everytime" by "No Plexus" on https://www.youtube.com/
Your work often moves across genres and emotional registers. How do you approach collaboration, and in what ways do your individual practices inform the shared process?
Allison: Our studio process has looked many different ways over the past five years. In the beginning of No Plexus, we were hellbent on doing everything together. But these days, we are happier to divide and conquer. Brechtje often brings carefully composed sketches to the studio; often notated on pen and paper, or Ableton sessions with many layers of interlocking vocal stems. I’m more likely to pull a sketch I’ve made in a solo production session out of our shared sketches folder as a starting point. That might be a single drum pattern, sound design patch or chord progression or any combination of things. After we find the seed of a song, we usually go through the entire production process together and it comes together pretty quickly. Brechtje lets me handle the mixing stage alone, but she keeps me well fed and hydrated during the process, haha.
Your music engages deeply with digital tools, yet maintains a sense of vulnerability. How do you think about the role of technology in shaping affect and expression in your work?
Bec: It’s been quite a colourful exploration, but lately the idea of hyper-reality seems to be recurring. For us, this means using technology to create resemblances of reality that are on the verge of turning hyper. It is the song of a bird that turns out to be a synthesiser when it starts singing something practically impossible. It’s trying to make my voice sound both synthetic and human. When zooming out, digital tools are also great for conveying feelings that feel larger than life, or for turning a mundane experience into something epic or surreal. To me, the idea of hyper-reality is like watching the colours on the TV go from sepia to hyper colour. Tech comes in handy when you want to evoke something like that.
Is there a specific release or track of yours that you’d like to direct our audience towards? And are there things beyond the horizon that you’re looking forward to?
Allison: Yes, both of us feel that our latest release “Everytime” is exemplifying the creative direction we are moving in. The form is quite “composed” and structured in a traditional sense, but the textures and emotions in the arrangement expand and contract in ways that are more organic and seamless than in our previous work. Bec and I discovered that we’re both really interested in the emotion of “bittersweet.” It’s such an interesting emotion because it permits darkness as well as lightness, with an overarching sense of beauty which connects both shades. It’s that feeling, combined with a palette of new versus old like traditional instruments like cello and sequenced drums and ethereal trance-ish pads – that can give the music a sense of futuristic positivity and spirituality. We’re looking forward to making more tracks that give that feeling.
No Plexus just released their new release Relix, which is available to purchase and stream on Bandcamp.
Photo by Esmée de Vette.