Alvear / Bondi: Latidométrica / Definite body, at sea

This album is the third in a series of three releases which are part of a project by the duo Alvear / Bondi whose members are Chilean guitarist Cristian Alvear and Swiss percussionist Cyril Bondi. Across the three albums, the pair interpreted and recorded six new compositions which they commissioned, three by Chilean and three by Swiss artists. Although they were recorded and released separately, months apart, everything about the albums suggests that the three should be considered together.

As with the previous two parts of the trilogy, this album is titled after the two compositions which comprise its music, "Latidométrica" by Chile's Barábara González Barrera and "Definite body, at sea" by Swiss flautist Mara Winter, both composed in 2021. These pieces were recorded at the Insub studio in Geneva and at Alvear's home studio in Santiago de Chile between November and December 2021. They are the album's only tracks but, on the album sleeve, they are listed as numbers 5 and 6. Rather more subtly, as did the previous two parts, this album's sleeve features a photo of a potter's wheel with a hand-thrown pot being shaped; comparison with the previous two sleeve photos reveals that this pot is nearer completion than before. (Incidentally, anyone wishing to hear or see the parts of the trilogy will find them all on Bandcamp.)

The album opens with a fifteen-and-a-half minute version of the Barrera piece on which Bondi's percussion supports Alvear's electric guitar so that the two mesh together seamlessly with neither of them taking the lead; the dialogue between them is so tight and coherent that the pair could almost be improvising their reactions to one another rather than interpreting a composed piece; certainly, the success of the finished version is due to Alvear, Bondi and Barrera. Next up is a twenty-eight minute rendition of Winter's composition on which Bondi plays bowls rather than percussion, with their characteristic ringing tones acting as an equal to Alvear's guitar, giving the piece a very different flavour to its predecessor; the one aspect it does share with the opening track is that the two players fit together well and sound comfortable. As a finale to the recordings of the six pieces, this album makes engaging listening and is an excellent advertisement for this trilogy's previous two albums. Recommended.