Transitory Splendor: Submerse’s “Algorithms And Ghosts”

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.

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. とは、Submerseによる自身がリリース予定の新EP、Algorithms And Ghostsの解説。人の多い忙しい街を行き来する時に聴いてほしいとの事。

初めて東京に訪れた人は誰でもきっとわくわくするはず。ネオンは四六時中光り輝き、人々は止まる事なく地下鉄を乗り換えて行きます。入り組んだ街並みからは、きっと路地裏やビルの陰に色々な物が隠されているに違いない、と思いますよね。でもそんな感情も長く住むにつれ薄れていく気がします。アパートを借りたとたんに、どこにでもある街へと突如変貌する恐れも。

Submerseというアーティストはイギリス出身で、今は日本に住みつつ、日本の首都”東京”から影響を受けたという新EP、Algorithms And Ghostsを準備しています。タイトル・トラックによると、彼はまだこの街からインスパイアされ続けてるみたいです！Burialがこの街を寂しい孤独な場所として表現しているのとは正反対で、Submerseの“Algorithms And Ghosts”は東京特有のきらきらとした眩しさをレーザーのようなシンセサイザーで表現し、その好奇心をソウルフルなボーカル・サンプルで表現。ミニマルな曲の構成が彼の表現したかった世界をぎゅっと圧縮して濃厚にしています。アルバムは３月にリリース予定ですが、タイトルトラックの試聴はこちらから。