This is one of those real rarities in modern music, an album that was recorded live in the studio with no overdubs and completely improvised, with no rehearsals or agreement beforehand as to where the direction was going to take them. Mark Wingfield (Jane Chapman; solo artist, and one half of the long-running guitar duo, with acoustic maestro, Kevin Kastning) on guitar, and Germany's Markus Reuter (Stick Men; The Crimson ProjeKct; Centrozoon) on touch guitar, they take the limits of their instruments and then just keep going. There are times when it is hard to realise that the sounds are coming from guitars as they are taken into brand new areas of tonal adventures.
On this journey they are accompanied by bassist Yaron Stavi (David Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Robert Wyatt, Richard Galliano) and drummer Asaf Sirkis (Tim Garland, Mark Wingfield, Nicolas Meier), and of all four musicians it was to Asaf that I found my concentartion drawn most frequently. His deft touch on cymbals, and his use of different drums and approaches, often turned the soundscapes of Mark and Markus into the background for him to play against. Yaron keeps the overall sound warm and comforting, removing the sterility that is coming from the guitars.
Fully impovised music is rarely as compelling or interesting as this, as the quartet don’t feel the need to be flashy all the time but often just play and hold notes so that the tune can easily reach a logical conclusion. It is more New Age than jazz, more Brian Eno than John McLaughlin, although there are some feelings of fusion in what they do. This is yet another incredibly important release from Moonjune and Leo, and I look forward to their next endeavours with great interest.
