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Paul Morrin, a.k.a. Spectac, has been producing
odd un-categorisable music since his very first "track"
in 1993 entitled: “Space Rabbit”. Dubbed and crafted
from delay pedal and a Yamaha PSR-400 keyboard, with the illustrious
Dublin techno DJ; Platinum Ray. “In these early days we had
no clue of midi etc.”, states Morrin, “It was all guitar
pedals, record players, and scrap metal”, he says. Under their
Members of PSR-400 moniker, the rabbit was received extremely well
by a surprisingly large public, though The Members had never officially
released or promoted it. In fact there wasn’t a single review
in writing.

About five hundred tracks and five years later, he finally purchased
some real equipment. He set about a new project with the drummer
from local band The Jimmy Cake, John Dermody. It was during this
time that they set up local label Front End Synthetics (FES) as
a platform to release theirs and their friends’ unrecognised
music.
Live performances soon came in a flood around Dublin and parts of
the country, in venues the likes of the tiny Lazybird to larger
festivals like Mór in Charleville castle, earning his reputation
as one of the most original electronic acts in Ireland, and well
able to get a crowd going when he wants to.
His music is mainly comprised of sharp-edged percussive sound with
many various overlaying patterns. Melody-saturated riff writing
with random twisted noise is another glorious trait of Spectac’s.
His first released track entitled “Cyborgs in the face of
every child”, on FES’ second compilation “Synthetic
Allsorts” came out in 2001. This immediatly led him to being
asked for appearances on various compilations and for remixes by
friends such as Planet-mu’s Ambulance, D1’s Educution
and a glistening mix on Rod’s EP: "All My Love"
released on Underscan in Germany.
Spectac’s debut album in 2003; “Rabbid” on Front
End Synthetics, affected many poor souls intensely (for better or
worse) earning these quotes:
"A disturbing piece of electronic psychedelia" - anorak
"...sounds like it has grown of it's own accord in the woods
at night, emerging spectre-like from the shadows...highly recommended
album" - warpmart
"...anthemic, pounding, stately, slinky, and alien..." - grooves magazine
In 2004 Morrin took a break from touring the Dublin live circuit
to work on music without the constant interruption of assembling
and disassembling his outboard equipment, and preparing constantly
alternating one-off live sets. As his skills in the studio started
to improve Morrin was asked to help out as a programming engineer
for South Dublin composer in residence; Daniel Figgis. He was asked
to work on spatial sound effects for local animation crowd the Delicious
9’s animated feature "Stars", which won “best
animated short” at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2005. This also
led him to a full sound & music credit on their next project
“Save the Robot” for RTE’s long running acclaimed
children’s show “The Den”.
It was just then that he was requested to do an EP for the stylish
and reputable offbeat Lo Recordings. Their new stamp LoAF releases
a series of interesting formats put together in beautiful 12"
packaging designed by Non-format, and each showcases both an audio
and a visual artist. Spectac’s third release, the five track
“Horn” ep was released on LoAF in December 2006. Spectac
is currently working on a 12” EP called “Longtime”
for one of Dublin’s most successful techno labels; D1, which
will be out in the short future…


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