contour

No need for much procedural analysis of this one, just an hour’s worth of your plain, old-fashioned improv gathering with Rowe (guitar, electronics), Costa Monteiro (accordeon, objects), Belarukov (alto saxophone, objects, ipod, mini-subwoofer, mini-speaker) and Liedwart (objects, electronics). IT’s all very subdued and all quite good really, Belarukov once again impressive in his reticence while still often using pure tones, no mean feat. Though I may be mixing him up here with Costa Monteiro if the latter is occasionally summoning similarly pure tones from his squeezebox. No matter, ore to the point that each of the two tracks breathes freely, stretches out quite ably. One notices, after dealing with the guitar quartet release that that one dealt pretty much in short phrases while this is about long-held sounds, much to its benefit. One wonders about similarly «awkward» playing using this formation, if it’s more difficult to «underwhelm» in a more stasis-prone environment. Whatever, it’s an excellent set, focussed and considered, working up to a subtly exciting rumble towards its conclusion. Well worth hearing.

Brian Olewnick. Just Outside.