People searching for a music retreat are often looking for time away from daily rhythms in order to focus more fully on their work. The term is used broadly and can describe many different kinds of experiences, from rest-led retreats and structured courses to songwriting camps or skills workshops. Dyski sits within this wider landscape, but is organised around a different question: what happens to creative practice when immersion is prioritised, when place is treated as a real constraint, and when experimentation and iteration are encouraged without pressure to arrive at the right answer.

Dyski runs five-night residential music retreats for musicians and sound artists. A small group lives and works together in one place for a fixed period of time. Everyone arrives together, stays for the full duration, and leaves together. The retreat replaces daily life rather than sitting alongside it. When meals are prepared and practical logistics are handled, a large amount of time and attention is freed up, which can be spent making, listening, experimenting, and following ideas without constant interruption.

The length of the retreat is deliberate. Shorter workshops and retreats often preserve familiar habits, with much of the time spent settling in and staying connected to life elsewhere. In practice, it usually takes several days for urgency to drop away and for attention to settle. Five nights is long enough for that shift to happen, while remaining focused and contained.

What happens inside this structure is experimental by design. Dyski uses constraint-based prompts, exercises, and experiments to encourage fast iteration, trying things out, and changing direction without fear of being wrong. Time is fixed, the group is small, the place is specific, and resources are limited. These conditions reduce overthinking and comparison, allowing ideas and ways of working to develop through use rather than speculation. Participants are not required to arrive with a plan or to justify ideas before trying them, and often complete more than they expect as a result.

The retreat is held as a whole environment. Food, shared meals, rest, conversation, and the rhythm of living together are treated as part of the experience, not as extras around it. How people eat together, talk, wait, and share time shapes what can be made just as much as any prompt. Workshop or residency leads work within these conditions rather than directing them from above.

Each retreat has a specific focus, and that focus matters. While the overall structure stays the same, the particular questions, disciplines, or approaches brought into each residency give it shape and weight. The structure does not change from one residency to the next. The length, shared conditions, and expectations stay the same, while the people involved, the focus, and the leads vary. Returning to the same structure allows depth to build over time without needing to rebuild the frame each time.

The mailing list is where new residencies are announced first, along with funding opportunities and occasional notes from recent events. If that sounds useful, you can join below.