Feeding the Machine

and introduced themselves as a duo with 2015's award-winning . They followed with the double-length in 2017, which showcased the duo as part of a sextet with saxophonist , drummer , trumpeter , and harpist . Two live offerings -- -- followed before the duo went on informal hiatus to concentrate on their own projects. reflects a restless group persona. They've enlisted on live loops and electronics. While that may seem unconventional (their earlier albums are rooted in analog aesthetics and technologies), 's contribution enhances their improvised sound immeasurably. At over 11 minutes, opener "Asynchronous Intervals" offers evidence of the music-making process as organic and immediate at the same time. builds out of and onto the duo's core sounds, offering modular reconfigurations of the tenor saxophone that are gauzily ethereal. emerges minimally, layering looped melodies on top of one another. When joins him, it's with warm, rounded tom-toms and stark kick drums. As his rolls and fills become more pronounced, starts moaning and wailing through the horn and the track lifts off into focused cacophony. Cymbals, snares, and kick drums introduce "Accelerometer Overdose," framing 's halting low register on tenor. He leans into 's loops and reverb, then unspools a circular, multi-layered vamp onto which grafts hip-hop and rock rhythms. Halfway through, it becomes an anthemic exercise amid squalling harmonics and deeply funky polyrhythms. On "Feed Infinite,'' it's almost impossible to identify the sound coming from 's horn as a saxophone. moves underneath it, adding jagged trap beats and instinctive syncopation, and unfurls an exotic melody in layered loops one phrase at a time. 's masterful drumming takes center stage as frames it in glorious melodic invention. "After the Machine Settles" emerges with muted electronics -- dubby, glitchy, and jittery. enters at full power. He criss-crosses blues, post-bop, and free jazz, then circles back as begins dropping massive funk vamps and breaks. Closer "Because Because" finds 's tenor sounding like a distant foghorn. He wedges in a sonorous soprano horn as manipulates the bridge that their harmony creates. dances across his snares with his fluttering circular brushwork adding movement, space, and texture. Here, the group sounds like in trio with . is a giant leap forward. The focus on deeply intuitive, sophisticated improvisation integrated with 's instinctive, tasteful electronics is welcoming, adventurous, and abundantly creative. ~ Thom Jurek