Subtle Lip Can

This trio of Montreal heavyweights use extended playing techniques, pulling incredibly strange tones from the surrounding environment. Percussionist/pianist Isaiah Ceccarelli, guitarist Bernard Falaise and violinist Joshua Zubot display expert command over a unique palette, excavating for oblique sounds as if they were fossils locked away in sheets of rock. Born from a series of weekly improvisation sessions called "Mardi Spaghetti," the trio quickly gelled and decided to continue exploring together. The resulting album is alive with fresh ideas: scrapes and squiggles are carved on blank canvases, which are stretched taut and draped over Zubot's hyperkinetic violin movements. Percussion is transient and weird, calling forth images of suspended objects of unknown provenance. There's a deep lowing throughout the first half of the record that's as mysterious as it's unsettling. The sheer distinctiveness of this trio's sound is a blessing: music this engaging and unique is a rare gift.