Immaterialize – Evolution
Immaterialize is the Chicago-based duo of Alana Schachtel (aka Lipsticism) and Erik Fure (aka DJ Immaterial). Earlier this year, Immaterialize announced their signing to Fire Talk Records’ emerging artists imprint Angel Tapes, and released a trail of singles culminating in the announcement of their debut album, Perfect, out January 23rd. Today, Immaterialize present their final offering of the year: the deeply evocative and slow burning single “Evolution.”
Downtempo and introspective, “Evolution” probes insecurities and imperfections through abstracted clouds of ethereal guitar-pop. “I’m ugly inside,” Schachtel begins, later admitting, “I don’t want to have fantasies of yearning.” Alongside Fure, Immaterialize sketch melodic and hazy memories of love, loss, and longing.
Of the track, Immaterialize adds: “‘Evolution’ is inspired by looking at a part of yourself that’s mean (ugly), but recognizing that’s not all there is and that there are also tendencies towards altruism (but also greed). Not wanting to spend too much time in a space of wishing you were an entirely different person. Accepting the full spectrum of emotion within oneself.”
Perfect — the debut album from Chicago pop experimentalists Immaterialize — is over a decade in the making. Schachtel and Fure’s years of sporadic collaboration gave way to their emergence in 2024 with a pair of songs, lifted from a larger batch that they were keen on polishing. These sessions resulted in Perfect, a debut album that sounds like nothing else produced in Chicago, the duo’s homebase and epicenter for all things indie and rock. And while these deep roots can be traced back to Perfect, the shapes Immaterialize twist form a vision entirely their own.
To craft Perfect, Immaterialize eschewed prior conceptions of what entailed writing and recording, opting away from traditional band structures and instead insisting on the strength of the duo and a few key collaborators. Alongside Schachtel and Fure, the duo enlisted studio stalwart Michael Mac for additional vocal processing, and welcomed Angel Marcloid aka Fire-Toolz into their creative process as well. Marcloid mastered Perfect at Angel Hair Audio, and also contributed bass and songwriting to the remarkable album opener “Everything But Myself.” Alongside these two collaborators, who encouraged the duo to abandon a precious recording process, Perfect was recorded at home entirely by Immaterialize themselves.
Perfect recalls the Danish dreamscapes of Fine and Snuggle, but Immaterialize anchor their album with an authentically American abjection. Each track cloaks an inner exhaustion with layers of processed vocals and ethereal production. Some tracks began as dreams, and their phantasmic genesis extends across the album’s haunted, reverb drenched soundscapes. Elsewhere, they examine behavioral patterns and the resistances we all desire in the face of change, loss, and love. It’s a tender exploration that never shies away from the ugly facts of life, instead sitting with these emotions and inspecting what can be gleamed in their wake.
Each artist remains extremely prolific with their respective solo projects — Lipsticism’s latest album, Wanted To Show You, was released earlier this summer via Phantom Limb, and DJ Immateriali’s Post-Op LP came out this past October — but Perfect found them both at a time where they were able to hone in and craft their first joint outing as Immaterialize. To celebrate the release of Perfect, Immaterialize will make their long-awaited return to the stage at Schubas on January 30th for an Angel Tapes showcase alongside labelmates Jawdropped, Retail Drugs, Starcharm, and ira glass.
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