In lesser company, Mary Halvorson’s grainy guitar textures and bendy notes pinging into dissonance could seem mannered and easily overwhelm. But here, her singular virtuosity is matched by pianist Sylvie Courvoisier’s equally vivid imagination and sure-footed command of a multiplicity of styles. The duo released their first album, Crop Circles, a set of covers, in 2017 after a single concert. Since then the New York-based musicians have squeezed short tours, one-off gigs and a second, somewhat austere release into their busy individual schedules.
Bone Bells, their third album, expands their multidisciplinary approach into a vibrant juxtaposition of expressive emotions, playful asides and intimate moments. Traditions are referenced, boundaries stretched and the musically odd coheres into familiar shapes. The result is a richly rewarding set that projects the power, finesse and emotional reach of an established working band.
Each musician contributes four pieces that alternate as the set progresses. Halvorson’s titles are more abstract, while Courvoisier’s have earthier roots, but the playing is so mutually supportive that it’s hard to tell the composers apart.
The album begins with the bent guitar tones, sombre minor-key piano and melancholic surrealism of Halvorson’s “Bone Bells”. As the piece unfolds, single note guitar lines glisten over stark piano chords, and shimmers of piano develop a gospel shade. The strident dynamics, mood changes and tempo shifts of Courvoisier’s “Esmeralda” come next, inspired by a sculpture by the late Dutch artist Cornelis Zitman.
Later, Courvoisier’s danse macabre “Nags Head Valse”, named after a British pub, presents sharp angles, playful interplay and resonant tremolos, and the gridlike twists of “Silly Walk” allude to both Monty Python and Swiss artist Sophie Bouvier Ausländer. In between, Halvorson’s “Folded Secret”, “Beclouded” and “Float Queens” deliver shape-shifting textures that unravel and cohere at a steady pace.
This thrilling, fascinating album ends with Courvoisier’s “Cristellina e Lontano”, a mix of jazzy waltz and abstract angularity performed with passion and restraint.
★★★★☆
‘Bone Bells’ is released by Pyroclastic
