with Tarwater, Laetitia Sadier, Ulrich Schnauss, Scanner - Double 10” vwm56 // CD - wm56 - RELEASE DATE SEPT 4th 2021
Nanocluster Vol. 1 launches today for pre-order with the release of “Skylarks” – a collaboration between Immersion & Ulrich Schnauss. There is also a video.
The album itself is released as a double 10" in a gatefold sleeve as well as CD & Digital. The release date of Sept 4th coincides with the Love Record Stores event although there are no limitations on pre-sales through our shop.
Nanocluster Vol 1. is an album with some serious pedigree. It sees Immersion (aka Malka Spigel and Colin Newman of influential groups Minimal Compact and Wire respectively) collaborating with some of the finest left field artists of our era: Tarwater, Laetitia Sadier, Ulrich Schnauss and Scanner.
The project was born out of a Brighton based club night, also called Nanocluster, run by Spigel and Newman alongside writer, broadcaster and DJ Graham Duff, and promoter Andy Rossiter. The club features a range of influential and cutting edge music acts. But the unique aspect of the evenings is that each show climaxes with a one off collaboration between Immersion and the headliners. The songs having been written and recorded in the studio in just three days prior to the performance - or one day in the case of Schnauss.
“It could have just been a series of performances.” Says Newman. “But the fact that we had built the tracks in the studio for the performances means we had these recordings.” Says Spigel. The recordings have since been developed with Immersion heading up pro- duction duties. The result is a beautiful and unique album. “I think the really interesting thing is how different everybody is,” says Spigel. “Both as people and creatively.”
Tracklisting
Immersion, Tarwater 1. Ripples // 2. Mrs. Wood // 3. All You Cat Lovers
Immersion, Laetitia Sadier 4. Unclustered // 5. Uncencored // 6. Riding The Wave
Immersion, Ulrich Schnauss 7. Remember Those Days On The Road // 8. Skylarks // 9. So Much Green
Immersion, Scanner 10. Cataliz // 11. Metrosphere // 12. The Mundane And The Profound
Immersion and Tarwater
The German duo of Ronald Lippok and Bernd Jestram have created an impressive body of work. Yet their involvement with Immersion has opened out their sound, creating a more panoramic soundscape.
The opening instrumental ‘Ripples’ is a gentle breathe of optimism, all purring tones and sun dazzled synths. Meanwhile, ‘Mrs. Wood’ is a dubby psychedelic shuffle, Lippok’s vocal cool and assured over a fat bass line and skybound eastern melodics. It feels like a more spacious take on the Tarwater of albums such as ‘Suns, Animals and Atoms‘. The four musicians’ 3rd collaboration is Nanocluster’s most pop moment: with a heartfelt yet unsentimental lyric unfurling over feline rhythms, ‘All You Cat Lovers’ is a feel-good anthem for cat lovers everywhere.
Immersion and Laetitia Sadier
An original and distinctive presence in contemporary music, Sadier made her name with the inimitable Stereolab, but she’s also created several impressive solo works.
The instrumental ‘Unclustered’ sees Sadier’s spidery guitar weaving through Immersion’s lush web of synths drones. The following ‘Uncensored’ has a subtle melodic tug with a classic Spigel guitar line underpinning Sadier’s sweet yet worldly wise vocal. ‘Riding the Wave’ is another feel good song, swapping between Newman’s plaintive vocal, and Spigel’s vocal and Sadier’s backing vocals. With its uplifting chorus: ‘Things have a way of working out’ ‘Riding The Wave’ feels like it might be the sound of the summer we’ve all been waiting for.
Immersion & Ulrich Schnauss
A highly respected solo artist, as well as being a member of Tangerine Dream, Schnauss’ skill with electronics is legendary.
The opening ‘Remember Those Days On The Road’ skips along on a rimshot rhythm with Spigel’s honeyed vocal telling a tale of life on tour. Yet it is far removed from such usual fare. This feels vulnerable and flecked with melancholy. ’Skylarks’ opens with a lattice of arpeggios before a gently nag- ging guitar enters and everything takes a turn for the sublime. ‘So Much Green’ is everything you’d hope a collaboration between Newman, Spigel and Schnauss could be. A constantly spiralling urban-kosmisch, with Spigel’s plangent bass anchoring the celestial sounds. The addition of her wordless backing vocals and recordings of real birdsong only serve to elevate the mood further.
Immersion & Scanner
Scanner - aka Robin Rimbaud - is one of the most prolific and diverse artists currently working in contemporary music. Spigel and Newman have of course collaborated extensively with Rimbaud before: alongside Max Franken in the art-pop group Githead. But this is something very different.
Their opening piece together: ‘Cataliz’ is the album’s moodiest moment. With its serpentine synth drones it sounds like the soundtrack to a mysterious thriller. The rich pulsing ‘Metrosphere’ recalls Immersion’s early work whilst adding another layer of grainy uncertainty. The closing ‘The Mundane and the Profound’ opens with a “Rimbaud scanned” recording of an irritated flight attendant but this is eventually subsumed by a simple yet emotive piano figure: a gentle and touching end to a unique collection of songs.
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Nanocluster Vol.1 is a testament to a remarkable synergy between a diverse assembly of strongly individual talents. The fact that it not only succeeds, but excels should be cause for celebration.
Plans are afoot for a launch event on Saturday 4th September 2021.
Swimming In Sound - 1 year Anniversary
Malka & Colin's weekly show on Slack City has now passed a significant milestone of 52 successive weekly shows - whole year of shows! A year of discovering connections both new and old in the diverse realm of music they call their taste and bringing them to their listeners.Also a year of hooking up with friends around the world so they can be their foreign correspondents. As well as many trips to the mixtape studio & Love Thy Neighbour Towers to hook up with friends & Nanocluster co-conspirators Graham Duff & Andy Rossiter.
The show is broadcast weekly on Wednesdays on DAB and the internet with repeats on Sundays at 11.00pm & Tuesdays at 9.00am. Should anyone feel brave enough to want to catch up on the 106 hours broadcast so far there is an archive on the swim site. Each epsode is also posted weekly to Colin & Malka's facebook pages whre social links to many of the artists played are also posted.
For those that are interested it is aso possible to play again Malka & Colin's Spiegeltent Slack City Social event from June 4th. The pair are in conversation with the writer Chris Thorpe-Tracey - presenter of Slack City's Folkhampton with musical contributions from Brighton's very own Baikonour an artist played regularly on Swimmng In Sound.