AMN Reviews: Lisa Cameron and Alex Cunningham – Chasms (2024; Waveform Alphabet)

Violinist Alex Cunningham and percussionist Lisa Cameron join for this duo of long-form textural improvisation. Cameron is known for her ability to extract unusual sounds from a drum kit and other instruments – including the use of various cymbals and shakers for long drones and gritty scrapings. Cunningham is perfectly complementary, employing extended techniques to produce wails and other guttural noises from his violin.

Chasms is free-form and likely recorded live in the studio. Its approach is quietly subversive and edgy, as Cunningham and Cameron construct a continual string of sounds from unconventional building blocks. But chaos erupts in the last 10 minutes of the final track as Cunningham solos with discordant sawing while Cameron provides a shifting bed of booming percussion and abstract sounds.

Chasms will be released on March 7, 2024, by Waveform Alphabet. If any of the above piques your interest, do not hesitate.