The flood of great records continues! Today we’re taking a quick look at the latest from Immersion and Kathleen Edwards.
Longtime readers may recall that I reviewed 100 new (to me) records last year. Because I’m a glutton for punishment love music, I’m doing it again this year. This is the latest in the series.
Good morning!
Today we’re taking a look at Immersion’s WTF?? and Kathleen Edward’s Billionaire.
The boilerplate intro:
Every year, I celebrate all the great music we’ve been gifted while worrying that next year will see the other shoe drop. I first did that in December 2020 and have been proven wrong every month since. Not only are there a ton of releases steadily coming out, but it also transcends genre or any other artificial guardrail we try and put up—
In other words, a ton of good stuff is coming out, and there’s something for everyone. It’s almost overwhelming— but in all the best ways. Below are another pair that caught my attention recently.
Let’s get into it!
Immersion- WTF??
Not too long after I got my driver’s license, my mom signed me up for something called a “skid car” course. For those who don’t know, this is a course where they take a normal car—I’m pretty sure it was something like a Nissan Maxima—and surround it with a sort of superstructure. You drive a circuit the same way you would on any surface street, but the instructor is able to manipulate the handling of the car—for example, taking away control of the front or rear wheels (and later on, both). The idea is to teach you how to navigate the unexpected and literally steer through it. They also taught you how to take curves at high speed (this was held at a race track, after all), but that’s a story for another day.
So you’re driving along, and things are going the way you’d expect them to; your inputs cause the usual reactions. Then the instructor goes to work, and everything starts to feel surreal. You’re operating the car the way you know how to, but everything’s just a little off—the car takes longer to respond to your inputs, or doesn’t at all. On the surface, things are business as usual, but it’s very clearly not.
I’ve been thinking about that class a lot lately as we navigate these “unprecedented times” (sorry not sorry). On one level, life is normal—I go to work, I play with Gizmo, I spin records, etc. At the same time, things are very much not normal. As I type this, my hometown is prepping for an onslaught of federal troops. The economy’s about to fully go off the tracks, and all the things we’ve relied on to keep us on the pavement are being demolished. It’s almost as if America is in one big skid car.
Immersion is one of those projects that slips under the radar until you realize the pedigree involved: Wire’s Colin Newman and his partner Malka Spigel of Minimal Compact. WTF?? marks their fourth full-length and first since 2016’s Analogue Creatures Living on an Island. This time they’ve pulled Matt Schulz in along for the ride. So what’s it sound like? The easy answer would be something like electronic rock (or, if we’re going with Wire, something from more recent years), but that’s reductive at best. It’s a little of both, and it defies easy boxing.
The record kicks off with Defiance, an instrumental that gets things off to a strong start with uptempo beats but refuses to plant its flag in either camp: not synth, not pop, not really anything but itself. Immersion—and Wire before them—thrive in these in-between zones, especially when they let the music do the talking. I tried to categorize their last record, Nanocluster Vol. 4, and failed spectacularly. I know better this time around. It’s A Long Way to Brooklyn is a highlight, a track that doesn’t need words. But the whole thing opens up when they do. Spigel’s voice on Timeline is cool and almost detached, and Newman sidles in with a wry spoken-word counterpoint. Elsewhere, like on Use It Don’t Lose It, his trademark deadpan delivery turns a good track into a great one.
If this all sounds heavy, it is—and it isn’t. At least no more so than something like Talking Heads’ Life During Wartime was back in the day. David Byrne was singing about NYC’s Alphabet City, and Immersion is speaking on a much larger scale. Nevertheless.
WTF?? is an album about the constant low-grade anxiety of modern life, and an era where current events have you saying “what the fuck?” several times before lunch.
Things are bad, but we can still have nice things. Things like this record. The grooves are brisk when they need to be and pared back when called for. The production somehow manages to feel both retro (the analog textures are a nod to history) and way, way ahead of the curve. I’m biased, but most Wire records still sound like they’re from the future. This one sounds like the right record for the right time.
Writing about Geese, Steven Hyden recently noted that “Music critics like to do this thing where they point to an album or a song and declare, ‘This music captures how it feels to live in America right now.’ And, often, I make fun of this. And you probably do, too. It just sounds so foolish and pompous. Because it’s almost never literally true.”
Fair point, but if I may, I’d like to make a motion to exempt WTF??. It’s sharp, a little angsty, and a little bewildered. In other words, it’s a record that—at least to me—captures exactly what it’s like right now.
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music | Qobuz | YouTube Music
Kathleen Edwards- Billionaire
It didn’t take me long to get why people are so excited about this record. In fact, it took about 30 seconds of the opener “Save Your Soul.” I found myself nodding and saying, “Okay, then.” The line “Line your pockets with gold… Who’s gonna save your soul/When your money’s no good.” feels like a question a LOT of people should be asking themselves in 2025. And just in case Jason Isbell doesn’t already have enough fans here in the community, the solo on this track rips.
That was followed up with “Say Goodbye, Tell No One,” one of those rare tracks whose gorgeous sound is a thin cover for caustic lyrics. It’s incredible. I can almost guarantee someone’s going to use this to get through a bad breakup. They could do worse.
Edwards is a Canadian singer-songwriter who’s spent a lot of time away from the music business. Part of that self-imposed exile away from the grind (heh) was spent running the perfectly titled Quitters Coffee. She returned to the music scene in 2020 with Total Freedom, made a covers record earlier this year, and is in fine form here.
If there’s a weak link, it’s “Need a Ride.” Clocking in at six and a half minutes, it’s about three and a half too long, and frankly, it feels like a drag on the system. Fair play to Edwards here, though- the lyrics are (again) on point. She’s saying what a lot of people are thinking. “FLA” is an ode to the Sunshine State, shouting everything from Gainesville to Tom Petty to Pelicans. It’s one of the highlights on the record for me.
Towards the end, Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer stop by to add some vocals. It’s a nice touch on a record already overflowing with talent.
I’m many things, but an expert on Americana isn’t one of them—and maybe that’s the best part of Billionaire; you don’t have to be to get swept away by this record.
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music | Qobuz | YouTube Music
I’d love to hear your thoughts on these records! Did I get it right, or am I way off the mark?
Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
Kevin Sent 
Leave a comment