The line up of this record is: Samo Salamon - acoustic guitar, Kevin Miller - electric guitar, and Dan Blake - tenor & soprano saxophones and when a trio is so tight and the instruments are so close in their range you can end up having a sensation of closure or, on the opposite side, a sensation of a total opening. In this case my impression is that of doors and windows opening to offer a different view each time, Each piece is a room.
Sometimes you enter into a very jazzy atmosphere, comping passages and a rhythmic feel that is taken care by the three of them in turn - then more chamber music passages and high pitch sounds like in Cobalt Charm where Dan Blake goes wild and the others follow at various level of wilderness.
At any level the musical exchange seems to spring from a deep mutual listening and the electric and acoustic guitar always create a sonic spider web that support the whole structure. Each piece develops around the dynamics between composition and improvisation and everything in between and…space. (Read an interesting article by Daniel Blake on this very topic).
On the same topic this is what Samo Salamon wrote to me:
All the music is a nice interplay between composed and improvised parts...for my compositions, I can say that the composed (written out) are quite tricky rhythmically and melodically...and I really wanted to feature this flowing between improv and composition, sometimes it is hard to distinguish what is what.
'Bad dumplings,' the opening piece, almost seems a manual for a trio composition with two guitars and a sax; a unison intro develops into a broken section in which acoustic guitar and sax built their lines together until the electric guitar enters creating a new balance.
The whole record develops along these lines with melodies and counterpoint and intricate rhythmic sections. To mention just a few: Pastrami or Burrito, sounds like late night music with sax, a relaxed atmosphere that slowly thins out and every musician feels free to try different solutions waiting for the others to react - Tattoos and beards takes the rhythmic and motives intersection to the next level in a piece that emphasize the chamber jazz music attitude of the trio - Vision Fest develops around small fragmented sections, a close free rhythmic dialogue among the three musicians.
This project is the second outcome of the collaboration between the two guitarists, this is how Kevin Miller explains it: This trio was essentially Samo's and my idea. We did a duo recording about 2 years ago (Unlocking the Code, Samo Records 2024), and had the idea to do another recording with a 3rd person added. We decided we'd each write 4-5 compositions, and ask Dan (Blake) to be the person who completes the trio's personnel.
And what Blake does is to add a new layer of explorative paths in the space created by the interplay between Miller and Salamon. The three of them produce a rich and subtle music that asks to be listened to.
As usual you can do that on Bandcamp:
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