Trick Mist’s Sub-liminal at Roe River Books, Dundalk

On Thursday 10 September, around 20 people came into Roe River Books for the Dundalk screening of Sub-liminal, a new five-part audio/visual series from Trick Mist, the music project of Gavin Murray. Dundalk was one of three screenings, along with Limerick and Cork. It was a small crowd of friends, colleagues and family. Gavin’s dad sat at the back, and you could see how much he was behind his son and the work that went into the films. Among the other guests were John Noonan and Dundalk musician Sharon McArdle. It made for a relaxed, close evening in the shop.

What Sub-liminal is

Each part of the series documents a song from Gavin’s new album, A Shimmering, which is out on 9 October on Moot Tapes. Instead of leaving the songs in the studio, he brought them out around County Louth and played them through a portable speaker in liminal places: Átha Ferdia, Ardee bog, a derelict site, the N33 Ardee link road, bathtubs sitting out in fields and the Magic Road.

The films are partly documentary. You see what they were doing in each place, but you also see how they did it, setting the speaker down, playing the song and recording what happened. The idea is to hear how a place takes the sound in, and to notice the connection between the music, the surroundings and the vibration moving through them.

Gavin made the series with film artist Graham Patterson and sound recordist Mícheál Keating.

Why some scenes take their time

Some sections stay on one quiet spot for a long time, a stretch of river or a corner somewhere, with very little happening. Watching it, there were moments where it felt a bit too long. We weren’t the only ones who thought so, because someone asked about it in the Q&A afterwards.

Gavin’s answer changed how the whole thing landed. He said he made those sections long on purpose. People’s attention spans are so short now, and he didn’t want to follow that trend. He wanted the audience to stay with one scene and keep their mind on it, instead of jumping from one thing to the next. Once he explained it, the long, quiet shots made sense.

The Q&A with Tom Muckian

Tom Muckian hosted the conversation after the screening. One question was whether Gavin’s family had influenced the films. He said his childhood is part of who he is, but it didn’t shape this work much. What made him think more deeply about sound and environment was college and the studies he did there.

A Shimmering is out on 9 October on Moot Tapes. Sub-liminal was supported by Louth County Council Arts Office, and the poster was designed by @davidmnnn. Thanks to Gavin, Graham, Mícheál and Tom, and to everyone who came along on the night.

Photography by Zane Vondracek, Astory Media