The dancer performs behind a stained pane of glass. Not being able to discern her every single, slightest move with absolute clarity is part of the enjoyment.
Microdeform is a one-man project happening in the interstices of sound and physical art and Neural Regression is gallery of gaseous sculpture with lumps, if you will. Liam McConaghy uses texture as metier, manipulating the sounds of what seem to primarily be jazz and orchestral recordings on turntables with various doo-dads. Calling to mind the dancing Dansettes of Philip Jeck or Andrew Deutsch´s Loops Over Land, his dub collage of distressed vinyl reaches out to be felt, even as it remains elusive.
A dream (like landing on Eno´s On Land in “Self-Exile”) might be quickly followed by its funhouse nightmare. Heavenly whale song swims right into a jazz combo and knocks razor-edged cymbals off their stands. A warm embrace turns out to be a freezing maelstrom. Swirl for the sheer joy of it plumbs the depths never to return and a cello is dumped into a cement mixer. A violin virtuoso is buffeted by gusty winds. An octopus bloated with certain faith climbs a Jacob´s ladder only to slip and bump back down every rung.
There is a granularity to Neural Regression, but one in which each grain seeks its predestined place in an unfixed sand painting.
