Niels Van Heertum, Shahzad Ali Ismaily

Belgian label Aspes Edities brings us an interesting split album by American multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ali Ismaily - who has played for Tom Waits, Ceramic Dog and Laurie Anderson - and Belgian euphonium player and improviser Niels Van Heertum, who is having his second release on the label. The deep blue is the common denominator on this LP. On the first side - entitled Sea Legs - Ismaily offers one long and sparse composition that prominently features guitar and banjo, but also makes use of shaker and voice. On the other side - entitled Hum Back - Van Heertum deals with four shorter experimental numbers which manage to sound reassuring and menacing at the same time. Album cover features artwork by Tatjana Gerhard.