IMMERSION to Release WHAT IS LOST WILL RETURN Album Sept. 4, Announce UK Tour
The duo's third UK tour in as many years will bring them to their largest venues to date.
Immersion, the duo of Colin Newman from Wire and Malka Spigel from Minimal Compact, will release their new album What Is Lost Will Return on September 4 on their own label, swim~. The duo has also released the album's title track along with a band-created music video.
Band members Colin Newman and Malka Spigel describe the track as the album's philosophical core: 'Humanity will not survive unless it can recognise that diversity is in our nature and we learn to work together. In spite of this we are hopeful that intelligence exists and take a positive view.'
This fall Immersion will embark on their third UK tour in as many years in support of What Is Lost Will Return, playing to their biggest venues to date. Tickets are on sale now.
What Is Lost Will Return is the second 'pure' Immersion release in as many years and follows 2025's WTF??. The title reflects the fact that there's only so many times you can say 'What The F*ck??' before looking beyond to see what endures. As Colin and Malka, the ever-productive 'life and art partner,' explain, 'The emotion we feel the album invokes is a poignant mixture of joy and melancholy.'
Recorded in a flash of inspiration, the instant karma of the album's short gestation captures a creative moment. It comes armed with killer hooks and a fascination with the future that pushes the duo's musical hallmarks into new spaces without losing their knack for impeccable minimalism. This is underlined by the twin vocals, which create cool contrasts, swirling between Malka's dreamy chorus sections and Colin's sardonic semi-spoken lyrics that pull you into their world of observations and sketches. Deeply intelligent, this is a multi-layered album of lyrical ideas and textures that demands to be heard.
What Is Lost Will Return is an album of grooves, hypnotic repetition, intoxicating melody, unexpected delights, and observational snapshots of a world gone mad. Wry and detached, Immersion's lyrics capture the chaos of the present while their shape-shifting minimalist grooves offer a sense of lyrical hope and joyful creation. Threaded throughout is a fascination with new sounds and textures, bending pop into unexpected shapes. It's an underground gem that feels entirely of the moment, an album that draws on the duo's past while refusing to live in it.
More about Immersion
Immersion are Malka Spigel and Colin Newman, best known for their work with Minimal Compact and Wire. The project emerged in the early 1990s and has always prided itself on a diversity in approach and an ability to be both self-contained and a vehicle for collaboration. 1999's Low Impact, 2018's Sleeplessand and 2025's WTF?? cover very different aesthetics. Recent years have also seen Immersion collaborating with the likes of Tarwater, Laetitia Sadier, Ulrich Schnauss, Scanner, Thor Harris, Cubzoa and SUSS in their ongoing Nanocluster series of events and albums. The collaboration with SUSS took the form of a month-long US tour in March / April 2025 as well as the album.
The couple also have a weekly music radio show called Swimming In Sound and play in the band Githead, alongside Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) and Max Franken.
Tour Dates
04.09.26 - The Actors - Brighton, UK (Album launch with David Quantick - interview & album playback)
10.09.26 - Sneaky Pete's - Edinburgh, UK
11.09.26 - The White Hotel - Manchester, UK
12.09.26 - Lubberfiend - Newcastle, UK
13.09.26 - Voodoo Daddy's - Norwich, UK
17.09.26 - Ramsgate Music Hall - Ramsgate, UK
18.09.26 - Rich Mix - London, UK
19.09.26 - Alphabet - Brighton, UK
25.09.26 - Markthalle - Hamburg, DE (A LIFE WITHOUT PUNK - talk only, no performance)
26.09.26 - Columbia Theater - Berlin, DE (A LIFE WITHOUT PUNK - talk only, no performance)
28.09.26 - Felsenkeller - Leipzig, DE (A LIFE WITHOUT PUNK - talk only, no performance)
09.10.26 - Pit Dog - Lorient, FR
04.11.26 - Artisan Tap - Stoke, UK
05.11.26 - Adelphi - Hull, UK
06.11.26 - The Firebug - Leicester, UK
14.11.26 - Patronaat - Haarlem, NL
15.11.26 - Doornroosje - Nijmegen, NL
16.11.26 - Paard van Troje - Den Haag, NL
Tracklist
01. Nephology
02. Breaking Free, Diversity, Evolution
03. We Don't Need Your Validation
04. Megafauna
05. What Is Lost Will Return
06. Childsplay
07. Radio signals
08. Frequencies & Echoes
Photo Credit: courtesy of the artists
Photo Credit: courtesy of the artists
