Link to our Facebook
Link to our Instagram
Link to our TikTok

Live Review: Pat Carroll highlights the beauty in found sounds on 'Plateau'

16 April 2019 | 10:37 am | Caitlin Medcalf

Sydney producer PAT CARROLL has found a way to channel the electroacoustic sounds from his current PHD studies in with his interest in sci-fi themes and narratives. His neat production style and clear vision brings forth a sound reminiscent of producers like Bonobo and Jon Hopkins.

What these three producers have in common is their limitless approach to producing. Each piece finds a way to be catastrophically large in places, and quietly small in others. It's about how the tracks are built and what sounds are being used rather than creating something that just straight up bangs.

Pat Carroll's latest 'Plateau' follows last year's Conditions EP and sees the producer stepping away from the cinematic and towards moody, emotive electronic sounds.

Plug into the latest music with our FREE weekly newsletter

Telling a tale through an unfolding evolution of sounds and textures, the beauty of the track is in how he acquired the sounds used. Of the process, he said "... the sounds I used were mostly field recordings of thunder, hitting pieces of wood together, and the sound of hail hitting my window, to keep a more organic feel with the track. I then structured the track around the gradual breaking down of the vocal loop."

The window-side sound recordings show a creative and exciting way of putting together music, and allow an immersive experience in an entirely new context outside of traditional producing.

Pat Carroll's more than just a producer. Finding, creating and whittling down sounds to fit certain a certain context is an event in itself, and Carroll's proving that to be second nature for him.

Words by CAITLIN MEDCALF

SEE ALSO