Zimmerman released SPACEPRINT in October under the name Invisible Low End Power
Though he has produced many albums for other bands, Wolfgang Zimmerman released his first LP, SPACEPRINTS, this fall under the name Invisible Low End Power.
Wolfgang Zimmerman has been the quiet common denominator of Charleston’s music scene over the past decade. His unassuming studio, The Space, is a vinyl-sided warehouse under I-26—an upgrade from his original location in a rented storage unit. From his humble, central home base, Zimmerman has worked with local acts such as Easy Honey and She Returns From War and produced marquee albums such as Band of Horses’ Things Are Great and SUSTO’s My Entire Life. He’s also the drummer and chief knob turner in indie rock band Brave Baby, whose release of new music in early 2024 coincides with Zimmerman’s unveiling of SPACEPRINTS, a nine-song album released under the moniker Invisible Low End Power.
Although tracks like the super groovy “ULTRA” and the crunchy, bass-driven “The Force” are making their public debut, many have lived on Zimmerman’s hard drives in unfinished states for years. “This batch of nine songs has haunted me in this hilarious way,” Zimmerman explains. “I have to release them to free myself from thinking about them. Especially during the pandemic, I’d wake up and hear them playing in my brain. Each year around the same time, I’d spend an afternoon working on these songs, and then another year would go by before I’d open them up again.”
Like a wedding planner designing their own special day, Zimmerman felt pressured to perfect each lyric and detail. He’s made music his identity since his childhood in Charlotte, when each day of the week was dedicated to either marching band or leading music at church. “Seven days a week was music—it’s all I cared about,” he recalls.
After forgoing college to move to Charleston and start recording, he helped form Brave Baby and launched his career. Partially prompted by the birth of his daughter in 2020, he finally released the first collection of his own songs in October. Friend and fellow producer Paul Nederostek—who runs a mixing and mastering studio in an alcove of The Space—helped nudge the tracks across the finish line. His input contributed to the balance of polish and overdrive on the album.
Wolfgang Zimmerman's first LP, SPACEPRINTS.
Zimmerman’s vocals, often stacked into a chorus of voices, also contribute to the grand weight of the album. “I always heard lyrics on songs like ‘The Force’ and ‘Far East’ as a monolithic gang voice, so it’s me singing in a lot of different timbres, trying to sound like a group of people—trying to be a wolf gang.”
Invisible Low End Power nails the balance of chill yet anthemic. “Powerlines” could easily land on a Beck album, with shades of Lenny Kravitz. “Strangers,” an acoustic outlier, shows off Zimmerman’s vocal range, hinting at John Mayer in his yearning verses. “Most music out today is made to be smooth—it’s an escape from reality and social media,” he says. “We leaned into making these songs feel like how life really feels, a bit augmented and blasted.”
Because Zimmerman creates his own music, he’s comfortable jumping in with ideas for other bands. “I try to bring empathy to the process,” he says. “I know what it’s like struggling to get a lyric right.”
While he’ll soon begin work on Band of Horses’ next album, he says that SPACEPRINTS is the first of many releases. “Writing and singing songs is what I love the most, but it’s also what I’m most secretive and shy about,” he says. “Releasing these songs is helping to bring out another version of me. It’s incredibly vulnerable, but also freeing.”
Listen Up: Hear “The Force” and “Strangers” from Zimmerman’s new album.
