Festival Spotlight: La Nature

Hidden deep within the forests of Belgium’s Ardennes lies La Nature. During the winter months, the site operates as a cosy ski resort nestled 654 metres above sea level, the highest place you can ski in Belgium. For one weekend each summer however, the slopes are transformed into the backdrop for this brilliant festival. Woodland paths become galleries of light and sculpture, art installations emerge from between the trees, and every corner of the forest feels thoughtfully curated, creating an experience that is equal parts mystical, immersive, and deeply connected to its surroundings.

Behind it all is No Name, an independent, non-profit platform that has spent the last 15 years building a community around music, art and collaboration. Rather than following commercial trends, their focus is on nurturing artists, meaningful partnerships and creating spaces where experimentation can flourish. That philosophy extends beyond the festival itself through Fleur Sauvage, the label they launched last year to preserve the kind of fleeting, spellbinding improvisations that have become synonymous with La Nature. Beginning with a release from Katatonic Silentio and most recently Daniel[i]’s Escapist LP, the label’s ethos is in capturing the magic of performances that would otherwise exist only as memories.

This year’s edition saw No Name invite a carefully curated group of collaborators to shape different corners of the festival, the full lineup remaining unannounced till the actual day. Katatonic Silentio Simon Médard were curators alongside Crépite, Whispering Signals, Maloca, Mooja, Dub & Dal, and RebelUp, each bringing their own sonic identity and artistic vision to different spaces across the woodland site. As first-timers to both La Nature and Belgium, and being among what felt like only a small handful of Brits there, we were completely taken aback by the warmth and hospitality of everyone involved. From fellow festival-goers to organisers and artists, there was an overwhelming sense of openness that perfectly matched the festival’s ethos. Here’s a little diary of what we got up to and who we saw.

Thursday – Arrival

As we arrived in Liege from Brussels, there was already an air of excitement in that many locals were descending to the forest later on that day. We asked someone for directions at a bus stop and a welcoming ‘Going to La Nature festival later? So am I!’ instantly dissolved the usual awkwardness of arriving somewhere new. We’d reached Liege way earlier than expected, around 4pm, and had made the decision to make a move to the festival with two bags of European supermarket shopping with a local bus rather than wait for the festival shuttle at 9pm. What we didn’t know, along with a bus full of other festival goers, that due to roadworks the local bus would only be heading as far as Manhay, a small quaint village 9 kilometres out from the festival location. Walking in the intense heat for two hours seemed out of the question and taxis were very much a book in advance situation. Cue everyone deciding to hitchhike and flag down cars with a surprising rate of success. It was such a small, pre-arrival detail that we loved, and signalled a little look at the all-round hospitality from the area.

After a quick check-in, a meal of salami, cheese, tomatoes and bread, plus a couple of picklebacks, we set off to get our bearings and explore the site before the first evening of music. Spread across five carefully curated stages, each space had its own distinct identity. La Chapelle, tucked away in the forest, was the destination for deep, low-end frequencies beneath the trees. La Clairière, set in a woodland clearing, was the kind of place where you could happily lose a few hours to rolling, hypnotic four-on-the-floor rhythms. Then there was La Ruche, home to incredible live performances and DJs pushing faster, more eclectic sounds beyond techno. Finally, the Hypnose Room offered a welcome change of pace, with ambient soundscapes and downtempo selections providing the perfect place to pause, reset and drift before diving back into the night.

After getting our bearings around the site, we started at La Chapelle with the live collaboration between Daniel[i], Katatonic Silentio and VC-118A. By then, the stage was already beginning to fill beneath the trees. From what we caught, the set revolved around slow, bass-heavy electronics, sitting somewhere between IDM and low-slung techno, with the crowd more than happy to settle into the festival’s pace from the outset. After a long day of travelling, we headed to La Ruche in search of something to fill the energy bank and seiva delivered exactly what we were looking for, with a set rooted in jungle and drum & bass that quickly filled the floor. The highlight came with Breakage’s Trance, a track I’ve loved since 2006, and hearing it on a system like this was a reminder of how timeless tracks can be. We stayed on for Bobbi Watson’s live show, one of the weekend’s standout discoveries. Moving between techno both hypnotic and more uptempo, and emotional breaks, the set made full use of La Ruche’s intimate layout and striking lighting design, with both performer and crowd locked in from start to finish. One of Bobbi Watson’s own released tracks Knock Knock was one of the standout moments from the set.

Friday – Getting lost in the clearing

We began at La Chapelle with a Katatonic Silentio DJ set, drawing on dub, instrumental hip hop and a Mo’Wax-adjacent palette that eased things in after the previous night. It worked as a slow entry point, with the crowd still finding its pace in the early afternoon. Tracks like J.Robinson’s Hard Times or Gak Sato’s Penetrate really set that tone. From there we moved to La Clairière, which had been closed on Thursday, and ended up staying for most of the day. Sonhan, a Belgium DJ from Brussels, was already deep into a long progressive techno set, gradually shifting between pressure and release without ever fully breaking the flow. What began as a quick check of the stage turned into a three-hour stay without much deliberation. After a brief break for food, and wanting to catch as many Belgium DJs we could over the weekend, we returned to the same stage for a DJ called Yogg, who continued in a similar impressive direction, extending the momentum into the early evening, with Surgeon’s remix of Ruptured really galvanising the crowd towards end of his set. Two of our favourite sets from the weekend. As it got dark, La Clairière became the focus of the night and if we have any small gripe we think the lineup was almost too stacked on this stage compared to others. An incredible live performance by Tobias, followed by another from Aurora Halal and then Mary Yuzovskaya, each performance tightening the hypnotic energy further into the early hours. The progression felt cumulative rather than segmented, with the packed clearing under the stars seeming way vaster than what the space felt like it could ever hold. An unfortunate series of power cuts during Mary Yuzovskaya’s set eventually eventually brought things to an abrupt end and from there, we shifted over to the Mooja stage for our final set of evening, where M.O.O.N had shifted the tempo into 170 BPM territory. Sully’s 5ives was a standout moment, providing a fitting change of pace after hours spent immersed in La Clairière’s rolling hypnotism.

Saturday – Storm Day

With several artists we wanted to catch clashing across La Clairière and La Chapelle, we knew we’d be getting out steps in. After catching Bobbi Watson’s live set on Thursday, we wanted to go check out her early DJ set at La Clairière. With temperatures climbing, the water mist drifting across the clearing became a great back drop for the autonomic 170bpm styled set she played. Vera Logdanidi followed up with a live performance where beautifully restrained, minimal grooves offered a complete contrast to the next four hours over at La Chapelle. Andy Martin and Gavsborg’s hybrid set struck a satisfying balance between soundsystem pressure and live performance, Andy Martin’s own Pleiadian Sound Clash landing particularly well. It felt equally comfortable as a party set and something more headsy. Chewie’s live set delivered fractured rhythms, intricate sound design and another of the weekend’s most rewarding discoveries. Le Motel then shifted the focus towards heavyweight bass and dubstep, with Mala and Magugu’s Militant Don drawing one of the biggest reactions of the afternoon. Those Lambda Labs speakers were showing off their capabilities and being pushed to their limits whilst still sounding incredible. We then took a little breather from the bassy dubstep and cooled off with a live set performance from Jin Synth back at La Clairière who we’ve been a huge fan of her productions for a while now. Much like Logdanidi’s set from earlier, Jin Synth guided the clearing stage through a deep techno set of introspective atmospheres that had us grooving in the water sprinkler mist.

We grabbed some food and watched mother nature perform a light show across the horizon as an impending thunder storm was illuminating the forest like a distant strobe. When the rain finally arrived, we squeezed under the awning of a van selling chips and swapped stories and chats with some fellow festival goers. Was just a little reminder over how sometimes the best moments at a festival can happen away from the stages. With the night fully upon us now the music delved back into more 4×4 hypnotic and forward-thinking techno territory with Yaleesa Hall laying the groundwork followed by one of the best sets of the weekend by Aa Sudd & Piezo. The lighting through the forest trees after the heavy rain was really something and the pair’s twisted rhythms, broken percussion and weightless low end seemed perfectly matched to the setting. We then made our way back to La Clairière for Carrier, one of the artists we’d been looking forward to all weekend. Having recently relocated from Berlin to Belgium, Carrier sounded completely at home in the Ardennes. His approach to broken, hypnotic techno and mutating sound design constantly shifted shape throughout the set, weaving intricate rhythmic patterns with the confidence of someone who has been releasing records since 2003. We closed out the festival at La Chapelle with an hour of the bass-weighted sounds Darwin has become known for, before handing over to Basic Chanel, who has been quietly finding her own lane within the techno and ambient community. With the sun peering through, Basic Chanel guided the still-going crowd with a festival cool-down of sunrise bass wobblers. It also felt like the right decision to let the music run longest on the final night. We’d missed every sunrise over the previous days, so watching daylight slowly filter through the trees while the last records played felt like the perfect way to bring such a beautiful weekend to a close.