Evening Air is the result Loren Connors and David Grubbs’s first trip to the recording studio in the two decades since their first duo album, Arborvitae (Häpna). Arborvitae stood out for its spellbinding, utterly unhurried meshing of electric guitar (Connors) and piano (Grubbs).
With this long-awaited return, Connors and Grubbs take turns trading off on piano and guitar, with Grubbs at the keyboard for the two gently expansive pieces on the first side and Connors taking over the instrument for three gorgeous miniatures on the flip, including an album-closing and perfectly heart-stopping version of Connors’s and Suzanne Langille’s “Child.” The album’s wildcard is “It’s Snowing Onstage,” which finds the two locking horns with two electric guitars before Loren blew the minds of all present in the studio by unexpectedly switching to drums.
Loren Connors is one-of-a-kind, one of a handful of deservedly storied musical greats gracing us with their presence, and with Evening Air David Grubbs again demonstrates that he’s a stellar musician who also ranks among the most simpatico of collaborators.
A cover painting by Connors—another wordless signalling—sets the tone for this most beguiling of seances.
credits
released August 30, 2024
Loren Connors: electric guitar (1,2,5), piano (3,4,6), drums (5)
David Grubbs: piano (1,2), electric guitar (3,4,5,6)
Recorded July 18, 2023 by René Pierre Allain at Scholes Street Studio, Brooklyn. Mixed by DG and Mitch Rackin at Deep Dive, Brooklyn;
Mastered by Taylor Deupree at 12K.
Cover: Loren Connors, A Coming to Shore No. 21 (2022), photo by Marissa Alper.
Back cover drawing by Fran Patnaude.
All music by Connors and Grubbs, published by Gastr Virgo Music (BMI), except “Child,” by Connors and Suzanne Langille.
“There is a quality I would use to describe something going on in the music of Kali Malone. In Living Torch, I feel what I would call “the isness of what is happening,” breaching denial, inciting acknowledgement & caring, in the midst of devastation, & holding it still.”
My full review essay at https://eliotcardinaux.wordpress.com/2024/06/05/kali-malone-living-torch/ eliotcardinaux
Acclaimed ambient artist Lawrence English and Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart plumb the liminal zone between sleep and waking. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 19, 2021
“After Vacation” is full of haunting, slowly-unfolding compositions that make the most of texture, atmosphere, and empty space. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 26, 2018
I was just listening to this album and painting on Aseprite some logo for a project, and it really took a spin for the better. Thanks Malone, O'Malley & Railton :)
Esko Tarkka