RITA, THE - Bandaged Invisibility

"With his flagship project, The Rita, Sam McKinlay has explored and distilled into sound various permutations of obsession and vice for over five lustrums. Though his musical approach has remained more or less consistent, the subject matter inspiring McKinlay's work has periodically shifted through the years, mapping out the constellation of non-musical obsessions that occupy his mind: sharks, drag racing, Giallo cinema, skateboarding, snorkeling, nylons, ballet, and females to name just a few. Frequently, McKinlay utilizes field recordings and other sounds sourced from the objects of interest before encrypting them in an opaque shell of noise. For The Rita, the abstraction and minimalism of the female form has played a major role in the fetishized development of his source sounds and harsh sound manipulations. Eye shadow and eyebrow pencil pushed to raccoon-like limits and nylon stockings have been used repeatedly in past recordings to personally investigate via harsh sound the abstra