Weird Wire, for sure. This Philadelphia noise-improv duo taps the jangling half-percussive, half-melodic properties of metallic string in a series of collaborations that sound like blues from outer space. In this configuration, Steve Heise plucks and bangs and strums on a conventional electric guitar, while his partner Alina Josan plays a one-stringed diddley bow, an elemental instrument, easy to make out of scrap wood and string, that was crucial to American blues, a precursor to the banjo and likely an import from Africa.
The sounds that Heise and Josan make, however, are far removed from the Delta tradition, consisting largely of staccato banging on strings, a rain of notes from both instruments that morphs and changes in the air, finding strange harmonies, dissonances and complementarities on the fly. Rhythm is a big part of the sound, bigger, I think, than tunefulness, although cuts like “Locust 1” find a dirge-like groove amid the clangor. In a few cuts, notably “Cabin 5,” a slurry, growly fluidity emerges from bowed, rather than struck, notes. The diddley bow sounds like a feral cello here, rough and full of raspy drama.
The cuts are named after, perhaps, the rooms where they were recorded. There are five “Cabin” tracks, a “Kitchen” and a “Basement” (and then three “Locust” tracks at the end). Several of the cuts are quite short, however, when the duo has a longer time to stretch out, the results are magical. “Cabin 4” is maybe the best track of the bunch, its eerie slides and scratchy cadences coalescing in shimmering, fog-bound mystery. “Locust 3,” the final piece on the album, flies squeaky, trebly, off-kilter guitar figures over the steady thrum of diddley bow. It’s aggressive, almost violent in execution — both players go really hard at the strings of their instruments — and yet conjures an aura of calm. If you like guitar experimenters like 75 Dollar Bill and Tom Carter, you will want to check this out.
