Victoria Jordanova / Jerome Descamps - A Second Orb [Aut Records 122]

Released via the ever busy Aut Records imprint on February 26th, 2k25 is "A Second Orb", the new collaboration album by Victoria Jordanova and Jerome Descamps who, over the course of nine brand new pieces and a total runtime of roughly 35 minutes, fuse and amalgamate the sounds of harp, trombone and cello and therefore present a quite unusual instrumental setting for a duo. With the accompanying press sheet mentioning both Free Jazz improvisation and 21st century Classical Music as reference points for their work, the duo opens on a both enchanted and foreboding tip with the aptly named "Introduction" which immediately transports the listener back into ancient times whilst the chiming "Summer" follows up on a more positive note at first glimpse, yet presents quite a bit of a brooding undertone in its deeper layers and yearning sustained trombone expressions which are even touching base with DarkJazz at times. With this being said for an initial direction laid out we see pieces like "From Nowhere" embarking on a journey into eerie, cold and fascinatingly ghostly beauty, presenting a sense of subtle tension and innate unease which makes this one a major favorite on this album alongside its direct follow up "Interlude II" and its cascading harps alongside a creeping otherworldly low end whereas the title track "A Second Orb" seems to be meandering between chiming, score'esque vintage harmonies and dreamstate non-vocalisms, dramatic trombone outings and short fever'ish percussive sequences, shifting between worlds -... or: orbs - and altered states of consciousness and therefore bringing forth a certain kind of un-reality perfectly reflecting the slightly washed out imaginative artwork by label owner Davide Lorenzon featured on the album cover just to name a few. Recommended not only for fans of Improv, floating organic Deep Listening Music and explorations of one's inner realm of psychedelic imagination. Go check.

Album artwork on Instagram!