The Immediate

The Irish quartet the Immediate experienced a musical lifespan as fleeting as their name suggested. Scarcely two years after issuing their opening single, the ensemble dissolved without notice, an abrupt departure that stunned observers who had forecast the group’s ascent to prominence within British music. An unusually flexible configuration permitted the four participants to exchange instruments freely—each member, for instance, took on guitar and bass duties at various points—while their output proved equally diverse, veering without warning from high-energy dance-punk through relaxed progressive pop to post-Kid A electronic indie.

The Immediate originated in Ballsbridge, an upscale Dublin district, sometime during the latter half of the 1990s. Schoolmates David Hedderman (lead vocals, guitar, bass), Conor O’Brien (vocals, guitar, drums), Peter Toomey (vocals, drums, bass), and Eoin O’Reilly (guitar) formed the early lineup; their school caretaker guided the young musicians toward later touchstones such as the Velvet Underground, Can, and Serge Gainsbourg. The band adopted an unorthodox promotional approach, distributing early demo recordings directly to musicians in everyday settings and even reportedly flinging a CD at a startled Nicky Wire during a Manic Street Preachers gig in Dublin. The tactic succeeded: in early 2005 the historic development imprint Fierce Panda Records issued the Immediate’s debut single, a limited-edition 7-inch of “Never Seen.” That March the group appeared at Austin’s South by Southwest Festival, and in June they joined Angels of Mons and Republic of Loose on Faction Records’s Faction ONE compilation spotlighting emerging Irish talent.

The single received airplay on BBC Radio 1 and reached listeners across the United Kingdom; later that year the Immediate inked a deal with Fantastic Plastic Records, a Sanctuary Records subsidiary. Eoin O’Reilly departed, and Barra Heavey joined on keyboards, adding an electronic dimension. The second half of 2006 was spent tracking the debut album with American producer Chris Shaw (Wilco, Super Furry Animals). The initial release from those sessions, the four-track Make Our Devils Flow EP, appeared in April 2006 and reached number 35 on the Irish singles chart for one week. The band’s sole full-length album, In Towers & Clouds, followed in Ireland that August, debuting at number 33 and lingering in the Top 75 for three weeks. The Immediate earned a 2006 Meteor Music Awards nomination, while In Towers & Clouds was shortlisted for the 2006 Choice Music Prize, which honors the finest album by an Irish artist in a given calendar year. Although the Divine Comedy ultimately prevailed, the Immediate performed among the eight nominees at the televised event.

In May 2007, while appearing onstage at Dublin’s Trinity College Ball, the Immediate unexpectedly declared their immediate dissolution, attributing the decision to “existential reasons.”