Jon Collin, East of the Valley Blues, Paille/Mucci Duo

Collin, who currently lives in Stockholm, plays his guitar with a similar disregard for incidental sound, audibly knocking the slide against the neck and occasionally moaning along with his swooping licks. Anyone who has heard the early recordings of Loren MazzaCane Connors will note the similarity, but Collin turns these tools to different expressive ends. Connor’s voice conveyed existential panic, late-night terror at the thought that he might be truly alone. Collin, on the other hand, seems to be expressing small but real comfort. The water and rocks and all the outdoors sounds that his microphone picks up on these six tracks, which were recorded near a lake in Bromma, Sweden, may not care about Collin, but he sounds at ease in their presence.   (Feeding Tube)

Toronto musician Kevin Cahill has already amassed a dedicated following on the strength of his two cassette labels, Power Moves Label and Power Moves Library. The former focuses on pro dubbed editions, while the latter favours micro releases, dubbed at home by Cahill. Both labels favor expansive, experimental compositions heavy on mood and atmosphere. But it’s Cahill’s latest outing, as one half of an acoustic guitar duo with his identical twin brother Patrick, that may be his most musically adventurous and intriguing. As East Of The Valley Blues, the twins create the kind of stunning improvisations that are the result of intimate, intuitive musical communication. Somewhat indebted to the American Primitive tradition of guitarists like Fahey or Basho, they craft often unpredictable latticeworks of guitar, exploring every inch of fingerpicking’s myriad tonal and atonal possibilities. (Bandcamp Daily)

Playing together as a duo for the first time since 2018.  Waves of reverb and fuzz, crash against the frenzied percussive attack.  Tonal and atonal.  Glacial: static and moving.