Clocking in at thirty-eight minutes, File Under UK Metaplasm is full of the sound of this futuristic goo that the title hints at. Sure, this might come from another planet, another world, but you’re still dancing.
A juiced-up album of dance music pushed over the edge
Last year, Rian Treanor released Ataxia, an angular and tight-fisted record based around the relentless shifting and nudging of drum patterns—and it was great. Just over a year after this, he’s back with a compact new project under the playful name File Under UK Metaplasm—an oddly apt moniker for this juiced-up album of dance music pushed over the edge.
The genesis for this project is quite interesting and I encourage our honourable readers to go check it out on Planet Mu’s website. In a nutshell, while Ataxia was built around a refusal or a recognisable grid and always maintained the listener in alert tension, File Under UK Metaplasm takes on the opposite approach—rhythm is the key anchor without which the tracks would spill their liquids all over the floor. This means that Rian has a lot of scope to experiment with pitch information and timbre that one would not dream to find in dance music (in the broad sense). Most of the melodies on the record (or what fulfills their roles) are notes divided into notes, discrete steps, but into continuous, fluid information—glides abound and while instruments are often ascribed to a range (which can be quite wide, as in “Vacuum Angle”), virtually no parts of this album could be hummed or sung aloud. This is very exciting territory as Treanor takes one of the core elements of electronic instruments (continuous pitch) and gives it a frame, often simple enough to make our body move and sway. In a way, what we have here is a very experimental take on a very consensual genre, which makes it unique and immediately recognisable. The track “Metaplasm” features a very direct (at first) kick pattern on top of which mechanical throats articulate otherworldly vocalisations.
Some tracks, like “Debouncing” or “Mirror Instant,” feel slightly less out-there, but it is a testament to Rian Treanor’s intricate compositions that such pieces would feel familiar. The sound design on the album is also impeccable, coherent, and above all a ton of fun. Clocking in at thirty-eight minutes, File Under UK Metaplasm is full of the sound of this futuristic goo that the title hints at. Sure, this might come from another planet, another world, but you’re still dancing.
File Under UK Metaplasm is available on Planet Mu. [Bandcamp]
