Playing a small nationwide tour, the electronic duo, made up of Wire’s Colin Newman and his wife Malka Spiegal of Minimal Compact, performed a set of their back catalogue material together with some unreleased tracks from a forthcoming studio album coming out later this year. They delivered a mixture of ambient, indie and electronic dance genres, honing in on Newman’s ’90s interest in techno and house music, also seen on the pair’s ‘Bastard’ studio album which they recently reissued.
Following the tranquil ambient waves of opening track, ‘Always the Sea, from 2016 album ‘Analogue Creatures Living on an Island’ – with heavy influence taken from Tangerine Dream – they performed the hopping beats of ‘Hopper’, with them both on vocals accompanied by the strumming rhythmics of Newman’s guitar so very reminiscent of his playing in Wire. Whirring electronic sounds filled the next track, ‘Timeline’, which included a mixture of spoken word and melody, showcasing the quizzical curiosity of the pair’s lyrics: “What’s the point of art if you don’t actually say anything?”
The instrumental ‘It’s a Long Way’ saw Spiegal playing dual tones, warm and organ-like, on the Korg and there were electronics paired with guitar strumming in ‘Propulsion’ from the band’s 2018 ‘Sleepless’ album. They then presented a new track, ‘Use it Don’t Lose it’, which Newman said contained the instructions of life with the pair repeating the lyrics taken from the title of the song. Their set ended on an encore from ‘Nanocluster Volume 2’, with the ‘As Long As’ collaboration with Thor Harris’ and its tribal percussion with Korg trills. They finished on the superb combination of Newman’s spoken word and Spiegel’s sweet, dreamy vocals in ‘Other Ways’, a song composed with Cubzoa (Jack Wolter).
01/12/24: Immersion @ Ramsgate Music Hall.
Photos © Ayisha Khan.
© Ayisha Khan.