Impure Imagination is set for release on September 18th, 2026.

The third Pointless Beauty album reflects a deepening of the project’s central concerns: how music can hold uncertainty, emotional honesty and collective interaction without forcing simple answers. Its title stems from Swainger’s refusal to view creativity through rigid stylistic boundaries, drawing from jazz, progressive music, ambient sound design, electronic production, pop structures and free improvisation without allowing any one influence to dominate.

“…the reason to make something is often to explore the spaces between things that already exist,” explains Swainger.

Many of the compositions began as short pieces written for Swainger’s Bandcamp subscribers before being expanded into larger works. Often originating as electronic demos, they were later reshaped for collaboration and live interaction. Recorded over three days at Yellow Shark Studios by a quintet working without prior rehearsal, the album balances thoughtful composition with spontaneity, preserving the sense of real decisions being made in the moment. 

On two tracks, generated voices are incorporated as a deliberate creative device, reflecting the album’s broader interest in questions of voice, agency and the increasingly blurred relationship between human and automated forms of communication.

That balance between structure and freedom lies at the heart of Pointless Beauty. Rather than operating through a fixed hierarchy, the project encourages a fluid exchange of ideas in which leadership and support shift constantly between players. Some material is tightly structured and groove-led, while other pieces move towards open improvisation and exploratory textures, with each musician playing an active role in shaping the final outcome.

While Swainger cites artists such as Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Prince, and David Bowie as important reference points, the album draws more from their spirit of exploration than any single musical style.

Through cinematic textures, collective improvisation and emotionally direct composition, Pointless Beauty continues to carve out a distinctive space between established musical languages, inviting listeners into a world where belonging is discovered through curiosity rather than certainty.