Title: Unruly Disturbance — Frisson
Favorite track(s): In Response, Todd’s Drone Throne, A Little Chef Olympic Breakfast As The Universe
Label(s): Not Yet Remembered
Bandcamp: https://notyetremembered.bandcamp.com/album/frisson
Release date: 12 June 2026
FFO: Aphex Twin, Lorn, Jon Hopkins
Genres: IDM, Electronica, Drum & Bass
On his new full length album, Frisson, Unruly Disturbance (Manchester, UK-based Tom Collingburn) embraces a joyous mix of drum & bass aesthetics and cathartic forays into cinematic electronica and sound design. In some ways pivoting from the immersive soundscapes of 2023’s Melodic Drone, Collingburn keeps a foot in that world on Frisson with frequent lush forays into ambient territory bounded by exuberant glitches, twinkles, and warbles. The album also features three collaborations with Mat Riches, whose already deep voice manipulated into a sonorous baritone lends heft and depth to the spoken word passages he contributes.
Originally from Richmond, North Yorkshire, Collingburn embraced Manchester as a proving ground, spending decades in the underground electronic music scene DJing and producing. Through projects like Autophase and My Favorite Blade of Grass, he evolved a unique sound combining elements of electronica and ambient along with healthy doses of experimentation. With that history on full display, the textures, rhythms, and worlds conjured throughout Frisson establish a fresh trajectory for Collingburn, balancing the past and future with deliberate meticulousness.
Frisson is a sudden strong feeling or emotion and is associated with pleasant shivers or chills, especially in response to rewarding stimuli (like music or poetry). Collingburn brings the goods to back up that title with copious hooks, drops, and melodies evoking those familiar sensations.
On lead in track, “Manners Cost Nothing,” Riches’ spoken word vocals accentuated by eerie melodic tones and bass drones along with a minimal but rattling beat create a melancholy atmosphere. Riches proclaims, “Yesterday there was a world war, today all air and screens hang dark. Everybody saw it coming …” conjuring a dystopian vision.
The joyful shifting arpeggio on “In Response” balances listeners from falling too deep into the blackened trenches of the opener’s cataclysmic world. “In Response” harkens back to Collingburn’s earlier work with the added framework of softly clattering beats.
Title track “Frisson” begins with a distant beat, like a winding-down rave heard from the parking lot. As the beat comes into focus, the initially whispery vocalizations grow more boisterous and intense. As the track progresses through its various movements, we begin to realize the scope of its wonderful strangeness — an alien soundtrack where we humans are the aliens.
“Todd’s Drone Throne” invokes a dark ambient vibe with ever evolving layers while “Douglas Dougington iii” shines the house light on warbly textures and uplifting melodic contours — both tracks sporting Collingburn’s signature cheeky song titles.
“Stark Contrast” bounces in on a warmly jubilant rhythm that would be right at home in a neon-lit discotheque, all the main characters celebrating their improbable victory in ecstatic catharsis, hands in the air, sweat pouring from their skin. But don’t worry, we’re not even half way through — there’re tons more to come.
A happily unhinged bass line subverts the classic drum & bass groove on “It Doesn’t Change You” while Riches elucidates psychedelic experiences: “People assume psychedelic experiences change you, but they don’t, not really . . . psychedelics can show you what you’ve lost.”
“It’s 3AM Somewhere” absolutely has the vibe its title evokes. It’s a track to help stay alert on the drive home after a fabulous night at the club. Delightfully wicked and wild arpeggios exemplify the jovial and nostalgic tone throughout the record — here written plain for all to hear.
When you wake up after a recovery sleep, “A Little Chef Olympic Breakfast As The Universe” might be just the ticket, though it might kick the psychedelics back into overdrive. Fair warning. For those outside the UK, Little Chef was a roadside diner chain in the UK and the Olympic Breakfast was their version of “the full English” — eggs, toast, baked beans, sausage, tomatoes, bacon, mushrooms, and potatoes — a hearty start to the day or finish for the night, as the case may be.
You can hear Unruly Disturbance talk about the writing process and his influences for Frisson:
