Label: RogueArt Records, 2023

Personnel - Fred Frith: electric guitar; Susana Santos Silva: trumpet.

Captured live in France in 2021, Laying Demons to Rest marks the second collaboration (the first in duo) between British avant-garde guitarist Fred Frith and inventive Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva. On the heels of the memorable double-disc trio album Road (Intakt, 2021), which conquered our ears and senses with incredible guitar-trumpet-saxophone moments, Frith delivers nearly 42 minutes of continuous free improvisation, weaving an off-the-wall musical fabric centered on timbre and atmospherics.

The duo embraces vast amorphousness within a progressive structure that begins with droning trumpet, airy sounds, electronic noises, and dissonant chords. Then the crystalline guitar drops give way to a distortion-soaked provocation that skyrockets intelligible trumpet phrases in the upper registers.

The story develops with cinematic suspense and the roles readjust; now they set piercing guitar screeches against low-pitched brass. An instant later, we hear organ-like sounds with a percussive tract in the bass notes of Frith’s axe. Concurrently, Santos ruminates via popping sounds just to raise notes to an opera house level.

Several suspended passages keep the tension alive but the duo extricates from raucous conversations by focusing on simple ostinatos that create a strobelike repetition.

These two creatives have immense musical potential and already proved their skills. This recording, despite being an unrepeatable product of their distinct sound worlds, felt somewhat dry. At times, I wished their tone-paintings had some more grip, something less sketchy and more palpable in terms of rhythmic expression.

Label: Intakt Records, 2022

Personnel - Kaja Draksler: piano; Susana Santos Silva: trumpet.

Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler and Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva are two excellent improvisers who coax the listener into unfamiliarly atmospheric worlds that are fun to explore. Displaying an incredible facility with their instruments, these two innovators create an intriguing album with rippling sonic waves echoing through the air in the company of tumbling percussive elements that underscore the porous textures.

“Moonrise” kicks off with a patterned, chiming jangle that comes from the prepared piano. A certain rhythm is set in motion, over which vibrato brass lines and abstract constellations of notes navigate atop, creating a strange combination of restlessness and peace. Presented like a suite, the next improvisation, “Close”, dwells in an abstract textural continuum. Silva’s horn oozes sounds extracted from a bunch of extended techniques: staccato feints, breath attacks, multiphonics, and trills. Her repetitive actions are counteracted by raspy and rattling percussive effects.

Delivered on the hype, “Liquid Rock” attempts even bolder sounds at the outset, eventually infusing palpable harmonies and melody. It feels like a nightmarish reverie, though, in which the piano sounds like an electronic machine that depends on a precise clock to function. Incisive trumpet lines dive into low and high registers with pinpoint navigation, and everything falls into a quiet if compulsory succession of sounds that throws us into an indefinite limbo.

The album concludes with “Grow”, a brainy industrial-like exercise made wildly unstable by electronic-suggested noises, prepared piano, air notes, and terse remarks. The mood is then adapted to ambient on the basis of long trumpet notes and a high-pitched piano drone that later converts into low bass moves.

With unrepentant honesty, Draksler and Silva contribute considerable creativity to this duo recording. They reckon with exploration of sound without being too explanatory of what’s going on. This makes the listener search with avid curiosity, resulting in a satisfactory outcome.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Close ► 03 - Liquid Rock