It is a soundtrack made for commuting between different places in large urban spaces, filled by swarms of people shoaling and funneling across intersections, subway stations and central hubs like corpuscles pulsating in the cities veins, conducted by invisible algorithms in the symbiotic superorganism that is a metropole. – Submerse, about his new EP Algorithms And Ghosts
Tokyo can be an enchanting place when you first visit it. It’s a sprawling, neon-soaked place that always seems to be in motion, people rarely stopping to rest as they shuffle between train stations. The sheer size of the place makes it seem like their all sorts of secrets tucked away in back alleys and office buildings. This feeling of awe passes the longer you stay in Tokyo – get an apartment here and it soon feels like anywhere else on the planet.
Music maker Submerse originally hails from England, but currently lives in Tokyo and is prepping a new album called Algorithms And Ghosts, a work inspired by his time in Japan’s capital. Based on the title track, he has managed to stay fascinated by the place. Whereas someone like Burial turns the city into a lonely place in his song, Submerse portrays Tokyo as a bright, dizzying place, filling “Algorithms And Ghosts” with laser-like electronics, distant twinkles and soulful vocal samples. It’s a minimalist construction, but this bare-bones form allows the sounds Submerse does bring in to really shine. The album comes out in March, but listen to the title track here.
