Nag Nag Nag club founder & DJ Fil OK releases 'The Belltower,' the second part of his We're In The Water trilogy of 2026 electronic albums, on 12th June

Fil OK © Todd Downing

WE’RE IN THE WATER

‘THE BELLTOWER’

NAG NAG NAG CLUB FOUNDER & DJ FIL OK RELEASES SECOND PART OF HIS 2026

TRILOGY OF MIND, BODY & SOUL ELECTRONIC ALBUMS ON 12th JUNE (VIA OK MUSIC)

Fil OK, under the pseudonym We’re in the Water, is set to release the second instalment of his ambitious 2026 mind, body & soul trilogy of albums, ‘The Belltower,’ on 12th June (via OK Music).

Following February’s The Steeple (the “mind” album), The Belltower turns its focus to the body - what it means to exist within this physical form of muscle, bone and blood, driving us relentlessly through our journeys.

The concept of the album is how our bodies constantly guide us: through instinct and movement we are attracted to pleasure, beauty, nourishment, relief, connection and survival, and intuitively away from pain, discomfort, danger, excess and the grotesque. These impulses can be gentle or relentless, welcome or intrusive. We call them needs, instincts, desires – but, at their core, they are simply the language of the organism itself. To live is to inhabit this system: to navigate and direct a restless, vivid machine of nerves and muscles as it carries us forward through life.

As Fil himself explains, "After The Steeple's 'mind' theme, this is the 'body' album. Everyone's got one (well, most people!) I hope these songs make listeners want to move - inhabit their vessel, go swimming, eat a mango, then go dancing and get laid! This second album in the 2026 trilogy explores our obligation to the physical side of being human, delving into the obsessions, attractions, repulsions, acceptance of what we are born with, and what we choose to do with that. We're all connected by these three unavoidable elements to being human: body, mind and soul. Wouldn't it be great if we focused more on our similarities than our differences!?"

Musically, the record moves into a more immediate, physical space. Strong beats, catchy hooks and towering choruses come to the forefront. Where The Steeple leaned into cerebral electronic textures, The Belltower brings guitars and beats into sharper focus, emphasizing the resonance and vibration of bells and twanging guitar refrains on tracks like "Nothing Is Certain But Death", "The Headaches" and "Not Sleepy", as well as rhythm and distortion on "Not Quite Naked" and "Storm Before The Calm" – the latter a dark electro murder ballad inspired by David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

Lyrically, the new album explores a range of bodily states and experiences - waking, breathing, seeing, identifying, enjoying, suffering, escaping, fornicating, violating, dying and the peculiar theatre of cohabiting. Each track features a different vocalist, creating shifting perspectives that highlight the importance of human connection.

Of the recording of ‘The Belltower,’ Fil remarks; "One of the reasons I love electronic music so much is that it speaks directly to the body. I work pretty much exclusively with Logic Pro - I'm a pretty cheap date when it comes to equipment! Although I do use quite a lot of plugins, it's mainly just me, my laptop, a good USB mic and an electric guitar. I'm still fascinated by the alchemic process of running feelings, thoughts and ideas from me into my computer, then out of the speakers and back into my body - if that sound makes me want to dance then it's mission accomplished."

"I think, with the way my brain is wired, I see my home studio as a playground of beats, melodies, loops, arrangements etc,” he continues. “Hyperfocusing on making an album is like building a living sonic structure which mirrors my weird mind, and how I feel about existing music."

Emerging from Blackpool in the late-Nineties, Fil OK follows a lineage of influential fellow Blackpudlians including Chris Lowe (Pet Shop Boys), Robert Smith (The Cure) and Dave Ball (Soft Cell). After a formative period in Manchester, he relocated to London, where he co-founded the legendary Electroclash club Nag Nag Nag, DJing alongside Atomizer bandmate Jonny Slut and Canadian DJ Jojo de Freq.

Since then, he has remained a prolific presence in electronic music, continuing to DJ at his residencies in London and Berlin, while also regularly releasing new music via his own OK Music imprint, often with self-made videos and animations.

"DJing at Nag Nag Nag and my latest residency, Dark Room, is so much fun as I get to bring all my odd tastes in electro, breakbeat, new wave, acid and experimentation and throw them together into something hopefully people can feel on the dancefloor,” enthuses Fil. “I call them my ‘Bloodbeat’ sets as they're a visceral extension of that same pulsing, physical resonance that defines ‘The Belltower.’"

Fil OK is renowned for the breadth and depth of his musical sensibility which he now brings to this new 2026 trilogy, while finding startling new expression through the prism of neurodivergence, a subject close to his heart; “These songs reflect on where my head has been at all these years, not realising my brain was wired so differently. The lyrics are all deeply personal, idiosyncratic and also cathartic and therapeutic for me.”

The three new works planned for this year each interpret the lyrics and music of the songs literally as architectural spaces, placing them conceptually in these three grand, holy places of worship, celebration and contemplation.

Whereas The Steeple imagined the mind as a place of elevation and introspection, The Belltower represents the body - vibrating in visceral resonance - tunes and rhythms designed to make the blood flow and the body move.

We’re In The Water – ‘The Belltower’ Album tracklist;

01 The Belltower (feat Mara Carlyle)

02 Outsiderish (feat Miss Elly)

03 Nothing Is Certain But Death (feat Xtopher)

04 The Headaches (feat Elaine)

05 The Clock Ticks

06 Not Quite Naked (feat Miss Elly)

07 Let’s Wear Wigs Tonight (feat Kate Shortt)

08 The Hawks (feat Zac Monday)

09 Sexualia (feat Rosy Garden)

10 Not Sleepy

11 Storm Before The Calm (feat Carolyn)

12 Housecraft (feat Jason Loves You & Kate Shortt)

We’re in the Water’s album ‘The Belltower’ is out on 12th June 2026 (via OK Music) and is available to pre-order/pre-save now via OK Music’s Bandcamp site here.