IMANU

IMANU (Jonathan Immanuel Kievit; born 14 November 1998) is a Dutch‑Surinamese producer and DJ based in Rotterdam. Working across drum and bass, jungle and a wide spectrum of bass music — from liquid and liquid funk to neuro, drumstep, dubstep and dub techno — he records and performs under the IMANU moniker (formerly Signal).

Born in Saint‑Denis, Réunion, Kievit began producing as a teenager and was signed to Noisia’s Invisible imprint at age 16 under the alias Signal. He co‑founded the label Dividid in 2018 and launched the IMANU project in 2019. Since then he has released music on Deadbeats, Critical Music, Vision Recordings and via UKF. His debut album Unfold was released on Deadbeats on 16 September 2022.

As a producer IMANU’s work is defined by detailed drum editing and layered breaks. He stacks programmed kicks and snares with chopped amen‑style and funk breaks, then resamples and re‑arranges those layers to create tightly syncopated patterns. Bass design is a focus: sub‑weight low end often pairs with modulated reese and distorted mid‑range for presence on club systems. He uses heavy automation on filters and pitch, sidechain compression to carve space between kick and bass, and saturation to glue multiple bass layers together while keeping the low frequencies clean.

Atmosphere in IMANU tracks usually comes from textural pads, long reverb tails and sparse vocal chops. He frequently places high‑frequency percussion and transient shaping up front to give clarity to complex drum edits, and applies stereo imaging to pads and arps while keeping the sub mono. Those techniques support cross‑tempo writing — tracks that sit in fast DnB, halftime dubstep or drumstep grooves without losing cohesion.

Stylistically IMANU moves between subgenres rather than sticking to one tag. His output mixes liquid‑lean melodies and chord work with darker neuro and halftime elements: melodic top‑lines and lush chords appear alongside processed bass stabs and heavy low‑end. The result is music that can read as a roller on a sound‑system set or as a downtempo, bass‑heavy listening piece depending on arrangement and tempo.

Career milestones are concrete. Signing to Invisible at 16 marked his first major label association. Founding Dividid in 2018 gave him an outlet for self‑released material and collaborations. The 2019 launch of the IMANU project consolidated his move away from the Signal alias and opened the door to releases on international labels. Releasing Unfold on Deadbeats on 16 September 2022 is a clear catalogue anchor — the album collects his production approach into a full‑length statement on a high‑profile bass label.

IMANU’s label relationships (Invisible, Deadbeats, Critical, Vision, UKF) and the launch of Dividid show his role as both a producer releasing on established imprints and as an operator building a platform. Across those releases he contributes crafted drum programming, attention to low‑end mixing, and cross‑tempo writing that lets him place material into drum and bass, jungle and wider bass sets alike.

Connections and influences are evident in his early association with Noisia via the Invisible imprint and in his release trajectory through labels known for heavy bass and DnB. Those associations help explain his combination of technical drum production and sound‑system‑aware bass design, which remain signature elements across his recorded work and DJ sets.

The facts stand: born 14 November 1998 in Saint‑Denis, Réunion; signed to Noisia’s Invisible imprint at 16 as Signal; co‑founder of Dividid in 2018; IMANU project launched in 2019; releases on Deadbeats, Critical Music, Vision Recordings and UKF; debut album Unfold released on Deadbeats on 16 September 2022.