Patrick Gibson - Elbow Room in Paradise (2023)

Patrick Gibson’s enduring legacy continues to unfold with ‘Elbow Room in Paradise’, an anthology of his vast solo oeuvre.

A tirelessly curious sonic pathfinder, Gibson’s recorded contributions hold up as some of Australia’s most urgent and undisputedly original ideas committed to tape, from Systematics, Ya Ya Choral, Height/Dismay, No Night Sweats and an endless litany non-bands, to wisecrack radio plays and lengthy stints in Scattered Order and The Loop Orchestra. Strolling into M Squared clutching a cassette of solo tunes in 1980, he instantaneously became a studio pillar, proliferating his own experiments with after hours access and helping manifest historic recordings from Negative Reaction, Four Gods, The Limp and Tangled Shoelaces as an engineer and/or producer.

Part kitchen sink ambient, part vertigo inducing synth wave, part infinitely repeating mania, this collection spans 11 years of resourceful soundcraft, as Gibson directed an array of instruments and unlikely sources (vacuum cleaners, toilet roll holders, contact mic’d woks etc), while humorously deliberating philosophy, religion, science, art and literature. Available digitally and in a cassette edition (limited to 120 copies) with risographed collage art by Julie Bookless, all proceeds from the release will be donated to Lifehouse, a not-for-profit cancer hospital that provided Gibson with the best treatment and support.

RIYL This Heat, Roedelius, Severed Heads, Deux Filles, Brian Eno and Desmond Simmons.