(Photo Credit - Eyal Pe'er Photography)
Album Review - Immersion: Nanocluster Vol. 1 (September 3, 2021)
Nanocluster Vol. 1 sees the return of art/sound duo Immersion (Malka Spigel and Colin Newman). Throughout the album they are joined by multiple collaborators including: Tarwater, Laetitia Sadier, Ulrich Schnauss and Scanner. The super duo who have been releasing music together since 1994 will see their first new release this Friday since 2018's Sleepless. Though it's worth noting that Nanocluster Vol. 1 is less of an album than it is a project. It emerged from a night club in Brighton that Spigel and Newman own that share the same name.
On the project, Immersion said in a press release: “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” adds 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.” One thing that's clear is that the duo along with their merry band of collaborators are not afraid of pushing musical boundaries with the project, especially sonically.
Perhaps our favorite moment on the release come during Immersion and Laetitia Sadier's collaboration "Uncensored". While it is a more grounded electronic track, it does have it's moments, particularly on the leads that feel so atmospheric. Sadier's vocals on this one are can't miss. Another high point on the project for us was "Cataliz", a collaboration of Immersion and Scanner. The synth work in this one is noticeably darker in tone that on other points in the album. It also reminds of some of the darker moments on Brad Fiedel's work on The Terminator soundtrack from 1984, or even something as contemporary as Gunship's collaborations with John Carpenter. Overall, there are a lot of highs on this one, though at points it can be a bit thick to digest for the uninitiated in more electronic music. That said, this is a winner for Immersion and their collaborators.
Rating - 3.5/5
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