Public Private assembles two improvising groups from divergent scenes: Barcelona’s Atolón and London’s Chip Shop Music. The album opens with “Public,” a 44-minute collective improvisation by Atolón: Ruth Barberán (trumpet/objects), Alfredo Costa Monteiro (accordion/objects), and Ferran Fages (turntables/electronics). Their sound is tactile and elemental, privileging raw timbre - breathing through trumpet bells, scraping on glass, whirring turntable motors, hissing air, and the elemental processes of friction, resonance, and interruption. “Public” unfolds slowly yet vividly, building a nuanced environment where gesture and silence constantly shift, and where the group’s intense care for sound and possibility is always front and center.
“Private,” the second piece, presents Chip Shop Music’s response: Angharad Davies (violin), Phil Julian (electronics), Lee Patterson (amplified objects), Daniel Jones (electronics), and Mark Wastell (shruti box, percussion). Their improvisation is cinematic and ephemeral, a study in micro-events and subtle interference - each member acts as engineer and listener. The quintet’s approach blends analog-sourced electronics, prepared violin, field recordings, shruti box drones, and manipulated objects. The result is music shaped by restraint and responsive design: pulses and threads surface momentarily, often receding into ambient shadow. Attention to placement and spatial depth makes “Private” a tactile, vivid chamber experience.
The album stands as a double portrait of modern ensemble improvisation - dialogue without fixed centre, each player working at the edge of the audible, where sound is always about to vanish or be reborn. The two tracks, immersive in their patience and openness, foreground the rich field of chamber electronics in contemporary practice. Public Private demands deep listening - rewarding curiosity with textural intrigue, communal sensitivity, and music crafted from the raw interactions of place, memory, and presence.
