Label: ESP-Disk, 2025
Personnel - Joe Morris: guitars, effects; Elliott Sharp: guitars, electronics.
This revolutionary collaboration between two creative minds, guitarists Joe Morris and Elliott Sharp, offers a vivid snapshot of their deep-seated commitment to free improvisation and disruptive innovation. Drawing from indecipherable yet hypnotic idioms, they construct and deconstruct in pursuit of musical evolution, making Realism a scrabbling provocation where their playing is often pushed to the very edge.
“Shapes Mentioned” emerges with a heady mix of dissonance, drones, percussive strikes, cleverly deployed electronics, and deceptively undemanding guitar noodling that immediately commands attention. The duo—whose artistic temperaments mesh seamlessly—venture into uncharted sonic realms, yielding compelling results. “Neither Odd Nor Even” is exquisitely layered, as Morris and Sharp manipulate their strings in a search for singular timbres, crafting a pointillistic randomness that evolves into a flurry of buzzing and humming tones shifting in pitch. The space, surrounded by harmonic bubbles inflated by unexpectedly potent effects, brings the essence of the blues—or a raw, country-blues pummel—woven into the core of their sound, apparent even when navigating its darker undercurrents.
Strident, euphorically compulsive scrapes and robotic wha-wha utterances flood “Light Asking”, which extends beyond clattering electronics into a cryptic dialogue of frequencies. “Soft Version” floats with eerie drones braided into intriguing acoustic chords and shifting textures—an eternal puzzle resisting resolution. It proceeds through dual staccato motifs that steadily intensify. In contrast, “Arrokoth” radiates avant-garde and electro-rock vigor, balancing intensities, noises, and timbres while sonically picturing the outer space.
Morris and Sharp embrace experimentation fearlessly, often creating spiraling movements with intricately layered textures and enigmatic moods. Realism is an unrealistically original work, a bold mirror of the adventurous spirit that defines its creators.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Shapes Mentioned ► 02 - Neither Odd Nor Even ► 05 - Soft Version