One of the most interesting books I read during the pandemic was Seven And A Half Lessons About The Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett. One chapter in particular caught my attention. It described how the brain’s main job is to predict what will happen next based on previous experiences and sensory input, as opposed to the brain being a passive receiver of information. Barrett’s hypothesis is well-developed and has a number of implications, such as how emotions arise when the brain’s predictions fail to match reality, leading to a range of possible responses.
Guitarist Sally Gates spent part of the pandemic studying consciousness and quantum theory, focusing on the relationship between perception and hallucinations. She decided to put these ruminations to work in a musical improvisation project with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Greg Fox. The result was Deliriant Modifier.
The album was improvised, though “controlled” by certain predefined parameters. Thus, structure emerges from time to time. Gates’ guitar is heavy and distorted, invoking shadows of both hard rock and blues. Dunn focuses on plucking and bowing the acoustic bass in his signature unconventional fashion. Fox lays down jagged and bursty patterns that wander and rarely stick to a steady beat. The result is an album’s worth of short musical conversations between three explorers.
As an example, Gates provides an inside-out melody to lead off Dissolve and Surveil. Her left-hand skills are remarkable even without a visual reference point as she twists notes, speed picks, and produces cacophonous chords. Dunn is in counterpoint with lines that complement rather than follow her lead. Fox moves in and out of tempo with the others giving the track an odd yet energetic pacing.
In contrast, Limits of a Circle is more open-ended and outside, perhaps freely improvised at least in part. Short punk-like bursts from Dunn and Fox accompany staccato chording from Gates. Angular Isolation takes the album in yet another direction, one that is slow-paced and psychedelic. Other tracks are similar but focused on loosely structured noise and almost hypnogogic. Gates even employs disjointed piano here and there.
Is improvisation the result of filtering ideas, experiences, and perceptions through the prediction engine of the brain? It is hard to say how Gates, Dunn, and Fox would answer that question. But even if the listener is not interested in cognitive science, this album is a brilliant expose of group creativity from three musicians at the top of their games.
Deliriant Modifier will be released on October 20 by Riverworm Records.
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