Barre Phillips/György Kurtág Jr.: Face A Face

American jazz bassist legend Barre Phillips, in company of Hungarian composer and improviser György Kurtág Jr., returns with the follow up to his 2018 album End to End, this time in the form of acoustic dialogue and improvisations, a project featuring double bass, synthesizers and digital percussion.

Very experimental stuff, unorthodox double bass playing by Mr. Phillips with Kurtág delivering a unique and strange ambience full of different twisted arrangements and seemingly misplaced soundscapes. A mix of very short tracks that crawl under the 2 minute mark and some more extended pieces that range between 3 and 4 minutes, this album is no easy listen, the textures and “melodies� are very haunting and dramatic, prolonged and unresolved, it sounds more like a creepy meditation record or the soundtrack of an unpolished vintage horror movie… the synths seem to follow or shadow the erratic sounding strings like creating the perfect moment for the instruments to be properly retuned… with eyes closed the listening experience turns a little comprehensible, but not quite.

It’s hard to imagine for me who would be really interested in listening to an album like this by choice, perhaps as a curiosity but there’s nothing really inviting to further listens, it lacks meat, seasoning and flavor, not my cup of tea.

Track Listing:

1. Beyond (1:30)
2. The Under Zone (1:53)
3. Two By Two (4:12)
4. Across The Aisle (4:22)
5. Algobench (1:17)
6. Chosen Spindle (4:15)
7. Extended Circumstances (3:04)
8. Bunch (3:10)
9. Sharpen Your Eyes (2:10)
10. Ruptured Air (3:10)
11. Stand Alone (3:17)
12. Forest Shouts (1:24)

Added: August 8th 2022
Reviewer: Jose Antonio Marmol
Score:
Related Link: Artist Website
Hits: 485
Language: english

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