Today sees the release of the propulsive new single ‘Push The Rock’ by Immersion – the electronic duo formed by life and art partners Colin Newman of Wire and Malka Spigel of Minimal Compact – which is the second to be taken from the forthcoming album ‘WTF??’, which is due out via their label swim~.
The ‘WFT??’ album tracklisting is:
‘Defiance’
‘Use It Don’t Lose It’
‘It’s A Long Way To Brooklyn’
‘Timeline’
‘How To Be’
‘Change Of Use’
‘Push The Rock’
‘On The Longest Day’
Pre-order your copy HERE.
The duo describe ‘Push The Rock’ as being: “about surviving in this messy world, we push the rock because we have no choice. The quote “You are the sky, everything else is just the weather” (by Tibetan Buddhist nun and author Pema Chödrön) is simply a way to remind that we also need to look beyond the moment. In short – It’s about life innit.. :)”
The striking cover image was taken whilst on their 2018 tour of the USA at a place called Dinosaur, Colorado. The visit to Dinosaur being an inspired idea by their US front of house engineer, Whit O’Keefe. The video for the track was filmed in Colin and Malka’s hometown of Brighton, with the assistance of Ben Newman.
The first single from the album, ‘Use It Don’t Lose It’, has been championed by Marc Riley and Gideon Coe on their Radio 6Music show, having played it five times (and counting!).
The band will be touring the UK throughout October and November, including a very special listening party and conversation with John Robb at The Actors in Brighton on 3rd October – Tickets HERE.
Immersion is the project of post punk musical architects Colin Newman (Wire) and Malka Spigel (Minimal Compact) and Matt Schulz (Holy F*ck, Savak & Lake Ruth). Since the pandemic, Immersion has been mainly working on their Nanocluster collaborations (with the likes of Laetitia Sadier, Tarwater, Ulrich Schnauss, Scanner, Thor Harris and Suss), but they have now re-engaged with the core project after a UK and USA tour gave them a shot of musical urgency and lyrical immediacy.
The crafted creativity of the core unit has seen their previous projects honed down in their studio set-up, but the magic of the live moment sparked a new necessity to the sound. It sees the four instrumentals and the four vocal pieces of the album created with an added energy and a connection to the shared hopes and fears of the band, its audience and the wider community. It musically catches a moment reacting to the apocalyptic madness of these times and trying to come to terms with it. The songs snapshot these uncertain days adding another layer of humanity to the music.
If the Nanocluster project is about collaboration, then Immersion in 2025 is a response to where humanity finds itself in the second decade of the 21st century. It reacts to not only that relentless rhetoric of these times but also how we as humans should respond. Music is the message, the medium, the massage and the moment. This song collection manages to combine the unease with hope, minimally hypnotic songwriting with taut melodies and inventiveness with groove.
In support of their new long-player, Colin & Malka have lined up a series of dates for the rest of the year, which closes with a set here in Brighton at Alphabet on Thursday 4th December.
Immersion UK Tour Dates:
October 3 – Brighton, UK @ The Actors (listening party & Immersion in conversation with John Robb)
October 29 – Leeds, UK @ The Attic
October 30 – Glasgow, UK @ MONO
October 31 – Manchester, UK @ Kamera
November 1 – Coventry, UK @ Just Dropped In
November 3 – London, UK @ Cafe OTO
November 8 – Cambridge, UK @ Crushing Death & Grief Festival
December 3 – Portsmouth, UK @ Edge of the Wedge
December 4 – Brighton, UK @ Alphabet
Tickets for all concerts are available from HERE.
