This is an
odd collaboration in multiple ways. Andrew Quitter (Suburbia Melting, Regosphere) and Jonathan Canady (Deathpile, Dead World) is not the noise excursion I would have expected based on the artists involved. Instead, it is more of a deconstructed sludgy rock/metal album, with production as influenced by noise as it is cinematic sound design.
The genesis of Psychological Morphology is another collaborative project never manifested. Canady started a noise rock project called Diamond Cult that involved one performance and a few releases, existing only between 2009 and 2011. The raw material he provides on here (guitars, synths) was intended for a collaboration that never occurred. These sessions (recorded with James Plotkin) were pulled out of storage a decade-ish later and handed over to Quitter, who took these bits and constructed a full-fledged record out of them.
Perhaps it was due to the combination of heavy guitars/electronics/rhythms/odd production, but my initial listen to this tape felt like a throwback to some of my favorite projects from the mid 1990s (a nebulously defined "scene" that blended guitars and synthetic stuff). Basically, the multitude of projects from the likes of Justin Broadrick, Robert Hampson, Mick Harris and, ironically enough, James Plotkin. The ways in which familiar touchstones of "rock" music appeared in entirely different contexts, conventional song structures deconstructed via odd production, and so forth was a major thing for me at the time.
In no way does Psychological Morphology sound like it is explicitly from that era, but that sensibility seems to permeate. "Invasion of the Night" opens with expansive distorted guitars and layers of synthesizer, cast over rhythms that are at times restrained, and at other points explosive. Quitter's use of rhythms and production also makes "Fog Gog Magog (Intoxicated)" stand out, with the odd filtering and production strategies to the beats propelling the slow sustained guitar and scraping synths perfectly.
Canady's guitar gives faster paced doomy chug to "The Vertigo of Eros," a driving dynamic fleshed out with dub-like echoes and delays, treated percussion, and a subtle use of synth melodies balancing out the heavier emphasis on rhythms here. That same stoner-ish vibe appears on "To Give Painless Light" although both the guitars and synths are more expansive, and the rhythms could almost be defined as funky.
Psychological Morphology is one of those rare releases that truly draws in elements from the best of both worlds. Sneaky melodies, chugging guitar riffs, and memorable rhythms are all present here, but the ways in which Andrew Quitter treated (and added to) the more conventional raw materials provided by Jonathan Canady make for an entirely different beast. There are not too many releases that I can both ponder how these unconventional sounds were created and manipulated like I would some obtuse avant garde album while still enjoying some heavy guitars and memorable rhythms, but this is definitely one of those few.
