American idiosyncratic, experimental guitarists Loren Connors and David Grubbs recorded their first duo album Arborvitae in Brooklyn in 2003 (Häpna). Arborvitae stood out for its spell-binding, utterly unhurried blend of Connnors’ electric guitar and Grubbs’ piano.
Twenty years and one month later, at Scholes Street Studio Brooklyn, Connors and Grubbs finally recorded the long-awaited follow-up album, Evening Air. The atmosphere is mysterious and cinematic, as suggested by Connors’ cover artwork (A Coming to Shore No. 21). unhurried and gentle as in Arborvitae, as these improvisers revisit and reimagine the piano and electric guitar format.
The two pieces on the first side of the album (which is released as limited edition clear vinyl plus download option) – the title piece and «Choir Waits In The Wings» – with Connors on the electric guitar and Grubbs on the piano tell expansive and nuanced stories. On the second side, Grubbs picks the electric guitar and Connors plays the piano on three miniatures that are dreamy and melancholic songs. «It’s Snowing Onstage» is the album’s wildcard and offers a more intense duet of electric guitars with Connors surprising all present in the studio by unexpectedly switching to drums. This beautiful album ends with the beautiful, emotional «Child», a cover of the song of Connors and Suzanne Langille (who played with Connors in the Haunted House band).
Artemesia features Connors in a live, free improvised format with fellow guitarist Chris Cochrane, cornet master Stephen Haynes, violinist Gabby Fluke-Mogul and double bass player James Ilgenfritz (who runs he Infrequent Seams label), all of them never played together before. The album was recorded at I-Beam in Brooklyn in February 2023 and mastered by another master guitarist, Elliott Sharp. The album is released as a limited cassette plus a download option.
The title of the album and its nine reserved and meditative pieces refer to different varieties of plantlife that grow in the wild, often thought of as weeds. Ilgenfritz explains that some of these plants are invasive, and their rhizomatic behavior makes them effective at eluding human influence. In contrast to the many forms of cultivated vegetation to which humans devote so much time and energy, many of these plants are fast-growing and fiercely independent. Ilgenfritz finds a deep resonance between the phenomena of the plants and the sound of this ad-hoc quintet, already depicted as paintings and drawings of Connors’ book Wildweeds. He writes that the subtle and sparse, dreamy ambient dynamics evoked «a commitment to the elusive, ephemeral nature of both our attention and our physical bodies».
Eyal Hareuveni
Loren Connors (electric guitar, piano, drums), David Grubbs (piano, electric guitar), Chris Cochrane (guitar), Stephen Haynes (cornet), Gabby Fluke-Mogul (violin), James Ilgenfritz (double bass)
