Following the recent release of their eleventh studio album, the duo toured the UK performing the new tracks live for the first time along with their last studio album, ‘WTF??’ which was released only a year ago.
The duo, formed of Wire’s Colin Newman and Minimal Compact’s Malka Spigel and dubbed as “life and art partners”, began their set on the last album with ‘How to Be’; a track pondering the chaos and rapid change in the world, with Spigel playing parts on a Korg. They’ve carried their societal spoken word narrative vocal style into the new album seen in its opening track ‘Nephology’; a percussive musing with an ethereal edge that retains the softer tones of Wire. The couple have a sweet affinity with each other that showed throughout the set.
Immersion also performed new track ‘Radio Frequencies’, played on the Korg and subjected on the cluttered airwaves of the radio on which they have their own weekly show, ‘Swimming in Sound’; it was laced with conspiratorial electronics. ‘Breaking Free, Diversity, Evolution’ was also performed from the new release with Newman on guitar. Amongst the newer, more dancey tracks, they included some ambient ones including from their 2016 album, ‘Analogue Creatures Living On An Island’, with ‘Living On An Island’, themed on the British Isles.
The duo then included two of the new album’s best tracks and singles: the fast paced ‘What Is Lost Will Return’ and ‘We Don’t Need Your Validation’, the latter of which saw both of them playing on guitar. Being about moving forward and not back, they ended their one-hour set on ‘Use It Don’t Lose It’, also from ‘WTF??’. The pair have managed to combine both new age theoretical reasoning and philosophical enquiry with infectious electronic dance music that makes their new album one of the most memorable of the year.
10/09/26: Immersion @ Rich Mix, London.
Photos © Peter Tainsh.
© Ayisha Khan.