Low Tide Digitals III

Guitarist Luigi Archetti and cellist Bo Wiget have been discreetly developing their partnership for a while and, if the first two installments in their Low Tide Digitals series were pleasant and intriguing, this third volume is downright gorgeous. The pair have hit a perfect stride between acoustic droning and noise fiddling. They don't balance acoustics and electronics, they blend them into one cohesive whole. One moment the music sounds like one of Morton Feldman's long, textural string pieces or some post-classical dirge, and the next you're thinking of experimental electronica like Pan Sonic or even Merzbow's noise blasts. And it doesn't feel like a contrast, but a natural extension of what came before. That said, most of the album weighs toward something quiet and achingly beautiful. Archetti and Wiget's music has the vibrancy of improvisations but the focus and intent of meticulous compositions, with every detail carefully placed. It's funny how, through the sober covers and lack of actual track titles (on Low Tide Digitals, Vol. 3, tracks are titled "Stück 24" through "Stück 37," carrying the sequence started in volumes one and two), Archetti and Wiget seem to be imposing a standardization of their oeuvre, while this volume clearly stands out from the first two, and each track has its own character. One of the biggest surprises of 2009; an album of stunning sensual music that moves way beyond genres and styles, trends, and approaches. ~ François Couture, Rovi