Patrick Gallagher
Shipping within 10 - 14 days of 28 June
e.78
by Patrick Gallagher
☺ black vinyl
☺ bespoke hemp paper jackets silkscreened by Mark Rice (Goatmother Industrial) using black + silver ink
☺ limited 100 copies
"The first time I saw Patrick Gallagher perform was on an afternoon in North Carolina in 2015, at a venue named “The Nightlight”. I stood outside of a circle formation as I watched him play a prepared guitar alongside some smaller synth boxes. His dualistic improvisational concréte style hung with an interesting juxtaposition of the daylight that shone down on him from the skylight above. Later in 2017 I had watched Patrick play again, utilizing a laptop computer as part of his live performance, honing in on frequencies and employing them in his compositions in a masterful manner. Moments of high and low tones became a physically enveloping experience, transforming my ear and stomach’s accustomed response to the hertz provided in relation to the generally standard lack of aural clarity one could encounter when touring through a DIY network in the United States of America around that time.
To understand the importance of frequency allocation in an American Personal Amplification system, particularly within the context of the American “underground” or “experimental” infrastructural framework, you have to come to a set of terms around the expectation of a kind of tonal spectrum. The totality of the frequency spectrum is not always fully realized due to a number of mitigating circumstances. Zoning legalities, budgets, and a base level of access to technical information and how it is implemented all come to a head within the frameworks of these social operations around sound in America. The loosely defined “countercultural” networks at play in the United States typically do not have access to public funding and certainly an ever diminishing access to public space as it is defined as a municipal concept. In this circumstance an artist is often tasked with needing to negotiate how the work they make is presented on a case by case basis, and so the burden of operational capacity sits with each artist as to how that negotiation will translate the imperatives of their work. In the case of Patrick Gallagher, his work as an artist has always found ways to excavate a space for his practice to articulate itself effectively and wholly against the variable odds stacked against him and his peers.
Patrick Gallagher in turn has amassed a hefty audio tool belt over a considerable period of time, finding ways to reflect on and participate within a dialogue on the recent histories of experimental computer music. As a rigorous listener, Gallagher has observed a multitude of sonic vocabularies in a relatively rearview acknowledgement of contemporary sound production and distilled them succinctly in his latest offering for Enmossed, titled “e.78”. Gallagher showcases his attention to detail and devotion to the craft of synthesis over two side long sections on the LP. It is clear that Gallagher is aware of how to situate his listening and furthering of the conversation around computer music in a post Peter Rehberg world by balancing sonic tropes from a golden era output of labels like Editions Mego, Entr’acte, Presto!?, or IDEAL. Tactfully, he showcases his ability to parcel distinct moments of clarity and sonic obfuscation. His abstractions are intentional, his ambience exacting, and his chaos undeterred.
Currently, Gallagher lives in the north-eastern part of the United States where a number of his peers thoughtfully probe through what defines the makeup of someone generating audio with a computer. For some, it is simply a convenient and pragmatic tool to engage their practice, while for others it is a politically charged resource that can churn out the grotesque sounds that mirror a grotesque society. When I last saw Gallagher perform, it was when I had invited him to perform on a stage sculpture I had made situated between a four speaker and single subwoofer (“4.1”) array in a classroom at the Universität Der Kunst Sound Studies and Sonic Arts program in Berlin. Here he did a live rendition of the material that accompanies this “e.78” LP. A professor of mine a decade or so beyond Gallagher and I sipped a white wine watching Gallagher perform a set, stating “This is so interesting, this type of performance was very prominent when I was in my twenties in Japan”.
I watched Patrick stretch his legs and allow the technical capabilities of the speakers to meet him and his work at the halfway point, eager to accommodate whichever direction his palette wanted to pivot, notably for the first time outside of the United States. As the night went on, everyone drank and performed karaoke. Gallagher sang Brooks & Dunn’s “Neon Moon” and charmingly crooned the songs laments of existential heartache and loneliness. The duality of his computer generated abstractions and the unabashed geographical influence of class rooted American popular country music floated together. This was the evening that Patrick Gallagher, once again, made an indelible sonic memory for me as a listener, and in my view solidified his position as ineffable underdog in the progression of American experimental sound.
I hope the contents of “e.78” provide other listeners with as much joy and captivation as they have for me, and I hope that this begins their own process of indexing moments of experience with Gallagher’s triumphant output."
Nick Klein
May 20, 2023
Patrick Gallagher is a sound artist currently based in Philadelphia, PA (US). With a formal education in mathematics, Gallagher employs generative/algorithmic processes, guided improvisation, and intuitive sound collage in an effort to weave evocative and evolving sonic narratives. Exploring the various developments of 20th century composition and contemporary computer music, he seeks to fuse that technicality with the cathartic and rapturous nature of the DIY noise underground.
Previous works employed a wide range of sound sources - synthesizers, field recordings, tabletop guitar, etc. - however, Gallagher currently focuses almost entirely on digital synthesis, particularly additive and granular techniques.
Gallagher has released albums on cassette and vinyl through ENXPL (enmossed x Psychic Liberation), Hot Releases, Refulgent Sepulchre, Tone Log, and other independent labels.
Audio mastered by Glyn Maier
Cover sculpture and photo by Lauren Pakradooni
Design by Joe Bastardo