3 out of 5

Label: VHF Records

Produced by: Ronan Fay (engineered by)

Two longform pieces on zither (Youngs) and piano (O’Sullivan).

If we take the detailed, tesseract-like nature of patterning on Persian carpets as a springboard visual, these collaborations from these two VHF regulars are appropriately dense, I just find the A-side to be infinitely more rewarding.

Youngs is in a noisier mode; O’Sullivan tinkles. With Part 1 on side A, Youngs takes the lead, and pushes and pulls on his instrument, Daniel supporting; wandering. It’s a gorgeous and affecting track that knows how to jump start the listen with a bright barrage of sound, and then keep one’s ear invested for 20 minutes by scaling the mood up and down.

On side B, O’Sullivan should be taking the lead, but it’s as though he’s not sure how to embellish his approach in that role to something filling out the full side. As such, Youngs occasionally “butts” in, which could be an interesting tension, it just doesn’t come across as entirely synced up. More like Youngs is content to follow Daniel’s lead, then starts to move towards something bigger and broader, only for it to turn out to be a feint in O’Sullivan’s playing. The song kind of stalls, or it’s not really bold enough to offer the same entrancing qualities as the A side. However, towards its conclusion, O’Sullivan begins playing more strongly, confident that he’s marching us to a crescendo, and then when Youngs follows along, it becomes very effective.