nagual: s/t

Spawned in Oberlin, Ohio's proliferating experimental circles, the duo of Ian McColm and David Shapiro have since 2010 become adept at coaxing oblique shades of Frippertronic drone from their extended guitar rigs. Finally distilling their inspirations into three deliberate pieces, this 44-minute LP of structured improvisations marks the culmination of a string of cassettes on McColm's own Pidgin imprint and is Nagual's most accomplished statement to date. Loops comprise the phonetic basis of Nagual's sonic vocabulary but they feel meticulously crafted rather than brazenly manufactured, with clusters seamlessly shifting in and out of coherence while deep tones expand across the stereo field. The muscular splutter of side A's rich palette crescendos into a dexterous burst of McColm's machine-gun percussion (first showcased on a Feeding Tube cassette) worthy of his years studying under Pharoah Sanders drummer Billy Hart; and side B unfurls with the patient serenity of music's eternal theater.