Photo by: Elena Solotroff
Official press release:
Experimental drone/dark ambient/noise duo, The Mercury Impulse, will release their debut full-length, Records of Human Behavior, on August 23rd, today unveiling the record’s first single and preorders.
The Mercury Impulse was created in 2024 by JR Robinson and Mark Solotroff. Robinson is well known for his group Wrekmeister Harmonies and Solotroff is best known as the frontman of Anatomy of Habit and BLOODYMINDED.
Robinson and Solotroff were first introduced to each other in late 2011, during the formation of a group of musicians that would perform with Robinson in January 2012, under his Wrekmeister Harmonies name, at the Museum Of Contemporary Art in Chicago. This ensemble, drawn from the city’s metal, experimental, classical, and improvised music scenes, came together to play a live score to Robinson’s film, You’ve Always Meant So Much To Me.
Solotroff and Robinson continued their collaboration over the following years, performing as a duo and in large ensembles, including multiple legendary shows at Bohemian National Cemetery, as part of the Beyond The Gates series, which Robinson spearheaded.
This in-person creative relationship paused in late 2015 when Chicago was no longer the home base for Wrekmeister Harmonies. Over the years, the two had developed a strong friendship while working together, and although music was shared at points in time after Robinson left Chicago, it wasn’t until early 2024 that the idea of a new approach materialized, based on recordings that Solotroff had sent Robinson for a proposed Wrekmeister Harmonies album.
Sparked by Robinson’s initial work with a set of existing unreleased recordings, the two set about recording new material, heavily driven by analog synth and guitar noise, and marked by a conscious decision to work rapidly and not risk damaging the creative freedom that they were enjoying in the process.
Records of Human Behavior is the result of approximately three months of active collaboration between friends. While the intensity of early Throbbing Gristle and the vast space of Lustmord are touchstones the album has a rawness expected from Solotroff’s contemporary analog synth drone/ambient releases combined with the expansive sonic landscapes that Robinson’s albums are known for.
In advance of the record’s release, today the band unveils “Infinite Repetition” with Solotroff noting of the track:
“I hadn’t planned on adding something new to my list of active bands and collaborations at this point in time. JR and I had discussed and had worked on music together that was meant for Wrekmeister Harmonies, but which ultimately wasn’t used. Something stuck with us, though. We worked at a pretty good pace on these tracks, and when we reached this song, ‘Infinite Repetition,’ it was like our already wide-screen view blasted out into some sort of IMAX aspect ratio. I think it’s given us a clear view of where we might take things next…”
Stream The Mercury Impulse’s “Infinite Repetitioin” below:
Records Of Human Behavior was recorded at Giants Ledge, in Rosendale, New York and The Confluence in Chicago, Illinois, and mastered by Collin Jordan at The Boiler Room in Chicago.
The record will be released on CD and across all digital platforms. Find preorders at The Mercury Impulse Bandcamp page here.
Records of Human Behavior track listing:
- “Behind Dull Glass”
- “Keeping My Second Self Invisiblev
- “I Heard The Earth Falling”
- “Primitive Instincts”
- “Miles Of Smoldering Trash”
- “Remanded To The Back Of A Mirror”
- “Infinite Repetition”
- “Lessons Of Apathy”
