Otoliths is the second album by the transatlantic quartet Earscratcher, which brings together Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik with three of her US-based cohorts – Dave Rempis on saxophones, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, and Tim Daisy on drums. Recorded live on tour in the US in December of 2024 - no small feat in an era when the longstanding xenophobic and insular tendencies of the country dominate more than ever - this sophomore outing finds a band whose roots have spread deep and wide. While their self-titled debut from 2023 drew from the spiraling ribbons of energy associated with Cecil Taylor’s bands with Jimmy Lyons, this more recent document showcases a band whose tannins have softened into ruby hues, ripe with the earthy tones of tobacco and leather that implies.

That’s not to say this record shares any of the slick shimmer of an ECM release though. Far from it. The band thankfully still has all of its teeth. But they know when to growl and when to bite, as well as when to purr. And they now wrap those cyclones of energy amongst passages of barefaced melodicism, deep timbral exploration, and pensive formal development.

At times the results can feel almost ethereal, when far-off piano ripples waft in from across a valley at night, to highlight the silvery moon of upper partials buried within an alto long tone. Or where whispered percussion waterfalls pour themselves slowly over the woody low-end of a bowed cello. These infinite details now fill in the broad structures the band hangs it’s improvisations on, completing a holistic architecture unique to these four practitioners.