Duo Reflections: La Tregua

Piano and guitar duos often face inherent challenges, as both instruments naturally occupy similar harmonic territory and can easily fall into predictable musical patterns. However, French group Duo Reflections, consisting of pianist Sylvain Rey and guitarist Leandro López-Nussa, navigate these potential pitfalls with remarkable finesse on their second album, La Tregua.

While their debut focused on reworking jazz standards, La Tregua marks a major leap forward, featuring eight original compositions alongside one cover. Their adventurous spirit extends further: the entire album was captured in a single day, recorded on a single reel of analog tape using just a single stereo microphone. This purist approach, with no overdubs or editing, creates an album of raw and spontaneous interplay.

The duo craft a distinctive soundscape, a hybrid of classical and jazz, taking the form of a conversation. Their musical dialogue unfolds swiftly as ideas flower and fade in real time. Years of collaboration have forged an intuitive connection between Rey and López-Nussa, immediately evident as their styles intertwine on the opening track, "Aube."

There may be just a guitar and piano, but the duo are highly skilled at coaxing a variety of sounds from their instruments. Composed by López-Nussa, "Fo' Blue" is complemented by numerous percussive sounds as his electric guitar builds edgy runs over a repeating and angular piano rhythm. The guitarist also wrote the title track, his guitar melody unfurling gently before being joined by cascading piano, leading to superb interplay as they build and release tension.

The one cover version is "For Karl," written by the late French pianist Denis Badault. It is one of the album highlights along with the tasteful interplay of the melancholy and song-like "En las Nubes." In contrast, closing track "L'ami de Rasputin" is a bright and lively guitar exploration over rhythmic piano.

This brave act of adventurous musical tightrope walking has paid dividends; the duo have the discipline and restraint to know when to use space amidst their often dense dialogue. Their more reflective pieces are painterly, with the instruments melding so closely together that it is not always apparent where each note comes from. An album of intimate narratives from two musicians complicit in taking risks, using subtlety, surprising improvisational intensity and harmonic subtlety to reach their goals.