Samo Šalamon and Hasse Poulsen - String Dancers

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https://samosalamon.bandcamp.com/

Samo Šalamon and Hasse Poulsen, both featured as guitarists and composers

The last 15 months have brought to prominence a relatively new form of music making. I'm talking about collaboration online where two or more players improvise together, often in a conversational way. It's then hard to know which order the music was produced in and who is playing what. It can be liberating and inspiring for musicians to work in this way, often with others they have yet to meet. This album is original, virtuosic and highly disciplined, with both players avoiding cliches, jazz stylings or obvious harmonic structures and playing in an inventive way.  Some of the pieces are quite fully composed, others freely improvised.

The presentation is abstract and that can be a barrier for the uninitiated. For me the album cover is little help, being a  combination of the player's two photos and a short sleevenote about the collaboration process. The track titles are cryptic, for instance "Coverless"; "Free noses"; "A word we heard". Because of that this release may be more likely to interest people who're familiar with the players rather than the casual listener.

SAMO ŠALAMON is "one of the most talented and interesting young guitarists and composers to emerge on today's jazz scene" (AllAboutJazz); he has recorded 33 albums and toured many countries as well as his native Slovenia.

HASSE POULSEN is a Danish guitarist, a member of trio Das Kapital - I love the list of influences in his Wikipedia entry: Bob Dylan, Beatles, Shel Silverstein, John Scofield, Derek Bailey and Ligeti. It is the latter two who shine through here with precious little trace of Silverstein apparent, on the first couple of listens at least!

All the pieces feature two steel strung acoustic guitars with rich and resonant tones; they sound quite similar and it's hard to tell them apart except by listening on headphones. Within that soundworld the tracks are varied, some very rhythmic, others melodic. Listening to this music was enjoyable and stimulating, my only slight reservation being the recorded sound which is very forensic. Both players make full use of mechanical noises and harmonics on their instruments, which I enjoyed, but the tone is sometimes scratchy and sibilant. I listened to the album next to some of Ry Cooder's work also using a lot of mechanical noises but with a better balance; this is quite a subtle issue and may of course be an artistic choice.

So high quality, inventive music slightly let down by the sound, and perhaps a missed opportunity to draw in more listeners with less abstract titles and artwork.

© Stephen Godsall

Musicians:

Samo Šalamon - 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars
Hasse Poulsen - 6 string acoustic guitar

https://samosalamon.bandcamp.com/