IMANU is touching down on the recently launched Heaven Sent imprint with the goosebump-inducing single “Skin To Skin.”
The driving force that compelled Jonathan Immanuel Kievit to reroute the transmission from his critically acclaimed drum & bass project Signal into an entirely new incarnation stemmed from the same spark igniting the inspiration from his primary pseudonym. The Rotterdam-based wunderkind was only ever worried about relaying a message encoded with unfettered creativity and earnest authenticity, even when he was rubbing shoulders with some of the most esteemed names within the genre. But the 20-year-old anomaly couldn’t fight the transformation calling his name from the left-field realm. With the same inquisitive nature nestled within its nucleus, he adopted the new moniker IMANU. Sticking to the original plot, he’s challenging himself once again as he makes another ambitious adjustment to his sound by way of his debut release on SLANDER’s ever-evolving Heaven Sent imprint. The pieces for the new track in question fell into place in front of a live audience, as he took to the online community to stream his progress on the fly.
“I got invited to the robot realm by my friends SLANDER,” says IMANU. “‘Skin To Skin’ is a track I started on Twitch and finished on Discord in 2020—one of the first tracks that really pushed me out of my comfort zone. Stoked (and a little nervous) to see and hear what you think of it.”
“Skin To Skin” was the byproduct of those public studio sessions, taking its final form after he fleshed out the in-progress ideas into a stunning psychosomatic masterpiece. IMANU grazes the epithelial surface with a cinematic flair in the intro, leading with ethereal pads and bone-chilling melodies. As the chords begin to blush with the richest of colors, the barrier breaks open to give way to glowing arrangements of intricately constructed broken beats, tissue-piercing synth flourishes, modulating low-end, and the caressing touch of an echoing vocal guaranteed to send shivers shooting straight to the central nervous system. It’s a smooth and sophisticated layer being revealed from the already impressive artist, one with ligaments deeply attached to the percussive complexities that put him on everyone’s radar when he was a still a bright-eyed teenager breaking into the D&B scene.
IMANU was first introduced to the world back in 2017, with a haunting remix of Camo & Krooked’s “Black or White” serving as a precursor to the pivot he would eventually embrace in the years that followed. It didn’t take long for this new identity to cast a giant shadow. Soon enough, he started opening up the possibilities with releases across the board on Counter Records, bitbird, mau5trap, Young Art, Kannibalen, Sweat It Out! and more. With his latest single, “Skin To Skin,” the real beauty of IMANU’s experimentation shines through with no filter.
