new music reviews authored by paul khimasia morgan

Wednesday, 27 November 2024

Paula Garcia Stone & Sue Lynch - Burning Cacti

 


Paul Garcia Stone & Sue Lynch

Burning Cacti

Cassette / DL  LOR164  Linear Obsessional  2021

 

A very cool item from this abruptly defunct South London imprint from a little while ago.  I scored a cassette version direct from the artists at a recent live gig, but although this label Linear Obsessional have ceased operations, you can still listen to all of their sizeable catalogue mostly documenting the South London improv/experimental scene free of charge on their Bandcamp.

Recorded during isolation, there are two pieces here produced by the players using the method of exchanging pre-recorded material back and forth electronically.

“Lockdown Duet” is eleven fascinating minutes of Garcia Stone’s manipulated field recordings and electronic modifications in duet with Lynch’s multitracked saxophone improvisations.  The result is an intriguing collision between the micro and the macro, indoors and outdoors, jazz and non-jazz, natural and unnatural sounds; which I thought gives an overall sound like processed and edited bodysounds.

The second piece, “Burning Cacti”, presents more plaintive saxophone and restrained field recordings.  Sue Lynch’s playing here is as powerful and delicate as anything I’ve heard this side of John Butcher.  She is capable of highly technical melodic playing as well as powerful blart and this versatility pairs well with Garcia Stone’s more abstract material.  The pair meander a cosmic route through alien desert valleys, pointing out the beautifully desiccated flora as they go.

https://linearobsessional.bandcamp.com/album/burning-cacti


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