Leandre / Maneri / Marguet / Ryan

The opening track of this deceptively titled album might best accompany science show time lapse footage of a plant’s life cycle condensed into ten seconds. "Hibiscus” is a glissandi tempest with Joelle Leandre’s cello and Mat Maneri’s violin providing the buffeting winds while Christophe Marguet’s tin roof drumming and Joel Ryan’s watery electronics bring the rain. The following "White Lily” and "Water Lily” tracks mellow things out a little, with the high and low stringed instruments bracketing the action and interacting like distorted reflections of each other. Ryan’s electronics are fairly transparent for the first half of the album but make their presence felt on "Crocus,” depositing Marguet’s brushed drums into a watery, cavernous cistern. Closer "Iris” brings together all four instruments in a lengthy, dynamic, but ultimately sublime collision of sounds… not unlike a field of flowers, I suppose.