Immersion traverse uncharted worlds in ‘Sleepless’

Immersion | Sleepless | Swim ~

Release date: June 15th 2018

Review by Jenna Dreisenstock

Sparkling bokeh of tranquil ambience mesmerize in introspection; up-tempo dance in glimmer – brightening, exploring and cradling the experimentation of instrumental growth. A wandering boldness in landscapes of ever expanding tone, tempo and timbre; new-worlds waiting to be discovered, embraced – or created from scratch.

With vivid attention to detail and world-building (within world-building) – a closed eye visual dance, ambient electronic duo Immersion: made up of members Colin Newman and Malka Spigel – have returned with their latest upcoming album Sleepless, scheduled to be released on Friday June 15th. Sleepless shimmers in the duo’s evolved personalised sound, a compelling exploration of an auditory journey.

Induced twilight-exposure, a love-dark shimmer-glow; in twinkling guitars spring and sprout a gentle caress – introducing the first track of the album ‘Microclimate’ in star-studded atmosphere. A saccharine melancholia slumbers in synth swells; a loving harmony sweep into gentle propulsion of reverb-soak and soft layer-bake harmonies. A haze of glimmer mirage, singing in an animated, yet comforting panorama inspires a steady drum beat and sonorous bassline – dancing hypnotic in homage as hints of jazz ambrosia and personalised krautrock dream drive the track forward in comforting optimism. An tender orchestral curiosity peeks through in micro-doses, blooming in Immersions’ lush traverse – as the title aptly envisions – within their microworld.

Spellbound in the allure to dance, ‘Propulsoid’ greets us in a hot-to-the-touch compulsive spark; vivid animation in collaborator Matt Schulz (Holy Fuck) rhythmic percussive enrapture, a steady vigour in progression with his own personal, driving touch known to transfix in clockwork, bewitching repetition. Science-fiction in auditory traverse and outer-space exploration; Schulz’ magnetic beat is curious in extraterrestrial playfulness. Wide-eyed alien transfiction gliding in unidentified flying objects, blackened eyes shining in their inquisitive gaze as the textural electronics, and synthesizer fantasy build a sound other-worldly. The intertwine of a red-planet landscape progresses in melodic guitar distortion, the urge to move: close-eye visual abductions in the auditory.

Lungs rise and clockwork fall open in glitch, a martian oscillation of synth in an IDM-reminiscent greeting, ‘Manic Toys’ excites in striking pulse; shimmering starship lights in a galactic adventure, a constellation soundscape in which each electronic timbre shines, bursts, grows and blooms as beckoning stars within an infinite darkness – a vivid anticipation in the experimental, an unearthly exploration progressing further (up, up, up!) in tempo as the prospect of adventure sparks within the bloodstream. The nostalgia of innovative avant-garde which braced science-fiction in cinema in the early 1960’s or 70’s, the sphere of sound fills with surreal, absurd visualisation whilst leaving behind aversion and fully embracing the enthusiasm for swirling adventure.

Gazing toward the skies; exploding stars in the infinity of universal unknown. Searching for an eager sign of validation, apt in its title, ‘Seeing is Believing’ opens in yearning, yet a chest-heavy anxiety in baritone synth; the beating-heart, darting eyes in ominous expectation of what could be. A nervousness in a slow, cautious yet simultaneously booming synth-line greets us as an auditory film; the other-worldly imagery as a mirage within us, a desolation Twilight-Zone of expectation in dystopia. An unexplored planet stretching ever forward, an unearthly world of the unknown. A film-score, science-fiction dream-state: a prolonged synth-melody builds in waves and atmosphere. To be imagined perfectly surrounding in a haze of sound – the shroud of mystery in Fox Mulder’s voice as, in his true nature – Dana Scully is told, ‘The Truth is Out There’ within the enigma of the X-Files universe. Robotic cyber-synth reaches out – exchanging extraterrestrial voices, information in experimental auditory timbre exciting to the human ear. The peculiarity of a seamless electronic movement blends in unearthly processed percussion; an alien-world in Immersions enthusiastic ability to explore in genre.

Sleepless embodies Immersions experimental nature in hypnosis, the traverse of mesmerizing repetition and enthusiasm for building worlds within a new territory of electronic space and uncharted visual landscapes; Sleepless bewitches and entrances, otherworldly atmospheres in ambient mirage and extraterrestrial texture.

Preorder Sleepless by Immersion

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[Photo Credit: Toby Mason]