With the release of Transcendent on May 16, 2025, Barcelona-based composer and pianist Samyula invites us into the most personal chapter of her sonic universe yet. The single—both delicate and commanding—glides like a breath held underwater, then released into the open sky. It’s a spellbinding entry point to her upcoming album Ethereal, due August 8th via British label Pianoramix, and it firmly stakes Samyula’s place among the new vanguard of neoclassical storytellers.
Samyula, the artistic alias of Samanta Yubero, exists in rare territory—where the brain meets the heart, and the scientific and the poetic intertwine. A trained classical pianist with a PhD in neuroscience, she doesn’t just compose with intuition; she composes with a deep understanding of how sound can physically and emotionally alter a listener. This isn’t background music—it’s interior architecture for the soul. Transcendent is no exception. It rises with restraint, slowly blooming through intertwining piano motifs and lush, cinematic string arrangements, unfolding like a thought you’ve had your entire life but never found the words for until now.
There’s a quiet intensity that pulses beneath the surface of Transcendent, as if it’s aware of both the fragility and the enormity of being alive. Like much of Samyula’s work, it doesn’t beg for attention—it earns it, through subtle complexity and emotional depth. Her minimalist approach, reminiscent of Arvo Pärt’s spiritual clarity and the emotive strength of Ludovico Einaudi, is beautifully balanced with a sense of modern momentum akin to Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds. What results is a piece that feels timeless—rooted in classical structure but reaching toward something entirely contemporary and deeply human.
Transcendent also signals a new phase in Samyula’s artistic arc. While her 2021 debut Daylight introduced her as a formidable voice in neoclassical piano, and follow-ups Forward (2023) and When It’s Time to Go (2024) deepened her palette, this latest single feels like a crystallization. It’s the sound of an artist not just exploring her voice, but standing squarely within it. The production, engineered by Kjell Sonksen, is warm and intimate—each note feels close enough to touch, each silence weighted with meaning. The result is an atmosphere where listeners can lose track of time, place, and even themselves.
Thematically, Transcendent lives up to its name. It emerges near the end of Ethereal’s narrative arc, a moment of clarity and perspective after wandering through the more shadowed rooms of the psyche. The track reflects not just peace, but the hard-earned arrival at peace. It captures the quiet triumph of self-realization—not the fireworks of revelation, but the exhale that follows it.
This emotional and spiritual richness is further amplified in the alternate version of Transcendent reworked by experimental composer Joan Arnau Pàmies, which will appear on the album. His reinterpretation offers a more fractured, abstract take on the same emotional terrain—like seeing your own reflection distorted in water, familiar and uncanny all at once.
For Samyula, composing is not about spectacle but sanctuary. Her work provides a listening space for contemplation, reflection, and healing. Transcendent is a prime example—a sonic refuge for anyone in search of stillness in an overstimulated world.
With over six million streams across Spotify and Pandora, and a steadily growing fanbase that stretches far beyond her home in Barcelona, Samyula is no longer just a promising name in neoclassical circles. She’s a guiding light for a generation seeking beauty that isn’t afraid of depth. As anticipation builds for her live performances of Ethereal in Portugal this summer, one thing is clear: Samyula doesn’t just compose music—she builds bridges between silence and emotion, science and art, body and soul. And with Transcendent, she invites us all to cross.
