Cath Roberts & Olie Brice - Conduits [Relative Pitch Records]

Oh, what a plethora of technical possibilites that comes with the fascinating thing that is the internet! Put out on the circuit via Relative Pitch Records on March 25, 2k22 is "Conduits", the new conjunctional improvisational album effort created by Cath Roberts and Olie Brice without even sharing a space, venue or exact location throughout the recording process. Linked up via a software known as JackTrip the two artists performed simultaneously in their respective homes in Hastings and London, UK on January 28th, 2k21 with the results coming down to a total of three improvisational pieces rolled out over the course of roughly half an hour. Opening with "Pipework" we find ourselves drawn into a surprisingly calm, warm and playful realm of sax improvisations layered upon intricately moving bass meanderings, sometimes even evoking memories of what could be variations on excerpts of Jazz standards before veering off and exploring further whilst "Peering" opens from a perspective of large scale, partially parallel harmonic movements of sax and what seem to be bowed bass strings only to provide an ebb and flow of a more detailed and agitated performance style giving way to deeper harmonies every now and then. Subsequently, the closing piece that is "Buoyancy Chamber" is following up on a somewhat beaten path, yet delivers a slightly deeper, probably more nocturnal and intimate feel even though this one probably provides the highest dynamic range out of all three pieces on this one. Defo an album to check out for fans of improvised, yet well and actually accessible Jazz.

Album artwork on Instagram!