Image Credit: Artwork for First Transmission, the debut live show on 18 June at Folklore, Hackney. Photographed by James Tye.

Back in November 2025, when Run Riot first spoke to Beta Lucca aka WUNDER BETA, she was unveiling her debut EP Love You To Beats – a luminous collision of electro-bossa rhythms, emotional storytelling and expansive, future-facing imagination. But even then, it was clear this wasn’t simply a musician arriving on the scene. This was the latest evolution of Beta’s extraordinary creative arc: from computer scientist in Rio de Janeiro, to London-based BAFTA-winning games founder, to a multidisciplinary artist building immersive worlds people can truly feel something in.

Now, we reconnect ahead of First Transmission – her debut live show at Folklore in Hackney, where she’ll perform Love You To Beats live with a full band for the very first time, alongside unreleased music nobody has heard yet. And true to form, WUNDER BETA isn’t interested in “just” putting on a gig. She’s crafting an experience: a threshold into the WUNDERverse, complete with her self-built light-projecting instrument, the MOrgana, immersive visuals, tactile artefacts, and a British-Brazilian band designed to make Electro-Bossa fully physical.

The conversation also reveals the spirit behind the project – from the “lil’ army” of collaborators helping manifest this wild idea into reality, to the London spaces and experiences she loves most right now: RAW by What Does Not, The Shop for Mortals and All Fools, and the ICA.

Curious? Boa! Step through the medieval door at Folklore on 18 June and see what happens when music, wonder, community and play become First Transmission.

Your debut live show First Transmission feels less like a gig and more like stepping into an alternate reality. What do you want people to feel the moment they walk through the door at Folklore?

I want people to feel like something is about to happen. Like the room has been waiting for them.

Folklore is this stunning hidden-gem venue in East London with trailing plants, fairy lights and a resident cat. It already feels otherworldly.

The First Transmission show starts when you walk through this medieval door, not when the first note plays. Every detail of what you see, feel and interact with has been intentionally designed. You cross a threshold into the WUNDERverse.

You’ve spoken about how video games make people feel part of the story rather than passive consumers. Do you think live music has underestimated audiences’ desire for immersion and participation?

Absolutely. I spent years making games and being mesmerised by how people lose themselves through a screen. That’s because you feel like you’re inside the story, you influence the world, and the world influences you.

Then you go to a live gig and it’s still the same format for decades. Artist on stage, audience below, a clear line between the two. You watch, dance, clap, then go home. So I thought, how is it that a screen can make someone feel more immersed than a room full of real humans sharing the same air?

People are definitely craving something deeper. We are oversaturated with screens, algorithms, content designed to be swiped past after 10 seconds. People want to feel something real. Something their body remembers. The live space is the one place where that can happen, but only if we stop treating it like a stage and a crowd and start engaging all five senses.

That’s what I’m designing for the First Transmission show.

Image Credit: WUNDER BETA photographed by James Tye.

The MOrgana sounds extraordinary – part instrument, part sculpture, part light installation. At what point did you realise existing instruments couldn’t fully express your sound, and what has building your own taught you about creativity and invention?

My music lives between two worlds: electronic music and Bossa Nova. For a live show, I couldn’t find an instrument that held both of those worlds at the same time. The keyboard felt too familiar. The guitar felt too acoustic. Nothing translated what I was actually hearing in my head.

So I built one. Over many months. The MOrgana is a 3D-printed hexagonal touch pad that plays full chords and projects light on every chord I play. She lets me discover harmonies I’d never find on a piano. She’s unpredictable in the best way.

Building her reminded me of my video games days: the most interesting creative work happens when you stop looking for the right tool and start making your own.
My limitations turned into sparks for reinvention.

Image Credit: WUNDER BETA photographed by James Tye.

Q4. You’ve mentioned the “lil’ army” of your creative community helping bring this show to life. Has becoming an independent artist changed your understanding of collaboration and community?

Totally. When I was running a games company, collaboration was structured, with processes, hierarchy, salaries.

This is different. There’s a lil army of creative friends helping turn this wild show idea into a reality. A photographer who shoots because he believes in the project. An architect who helps with visuals because creating a space people feel something excites her. Friends who share the show with their networks because they genuinely want people to experience it.

There’s something about going against grain and creating a new playbook that attracts the right people. And it makes you braver because you’re not building alone.
That’s the bit about being independent nobody tells you. You lose the infrastructure, yes. But you gain something powerful: people who choose to be involved.

WUNDER BETA filmed by Joe Aky and edited by Beta Lucca.

Even your merch rejects the disposable culture of most live music. Why was it important for you to create objects people might genuinely treasure or live with afterwards?

Because I’ve been to hundreds of gigs and at the end of the show, I crave buying something cool and most of the time all they offer is more of the same. T-shirts I’d rarely wear. Stickers I don’t need. Another tote bag to add to the pile I have at home.

That made me wonder, what could I create for the audience that’s a piece of the show they can take home? Something memorable that still holds a bit of the feeling from that night.

I’m also making a limited edition vinyl of the EP, which felt important. There’s something about holding the music in your hands, looking at the artwork up close, choosing to put the needle down. It’s the opposite of pressing play on a playlist you’ll forget about.

Image Credit: WUNDER BETA photographed by James Tye.

Your music blends Brazilian rhythms with British electronic textures – and now you’re bringing that energy fully into the live space with a British producer/multi-instrumentalist and a Brazilian drummer. How has translating Love You To Beats from the studio into a live performance changed the music itself?

A live room is a different animal so the music arrangements had to evolve. In the studio, everything is controlled, layered, precise. On stage, the songs need to breathe and respond to the energy of the room.

Going British-Brazilian with the band was my first instinct. A British artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist brings that London edge, that electronic texture. A Brazilian drummer brings the rhythm, the swing, the warmth. When those two energies meet, it’s the sound of Electro-Bossa made physical. It’s Rio and London together.

That’s what First Transmission is. The immersive room, the music, the band, the MOrgana, the people. All of it alive at the same time, for the first time.

Lastly, our readers are always on the lookout for haut culture spaces, très-chic creator scenes, and hush-hush arty hubs to check out. Which three places or communities tickle your fancy right now – and what makes them special to you?

RAW by What Does Not. Real stories by real people, live music, curated around a theme. I went and loved the experience, and didn’t touch my phone for two hours. That rarely happens to me.

The Shop for Mortals and All Fools by Collab Theatre. Immersive one-person theatre by director Vinicius Salles. A powerful performance and narrative that creates a rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish.

ICA. I saw Jasper Tygner and Vaarwell (as his opening act) a couple of weeks ago and loved it. ICA’s sound and lighting are incredible, and so is their curation of shows.

Find WUNDER BETA at wunderbeta.com and on Insta @wunderbeta

See WUNDER BETA IRL → wunderbeta.com

First Transmission
Live Show
Folklore
186 Hackney Rd,
London E2 7QL
Thursday 18 June, 7pm.

Tickets and info → wunderbeta.com