Kirsten Carey and Aaron Edgcomb: Mature Defense Mechanism

Guitarist Kirsten Carey and drummer Aaron Edgcomb are both genre defiers with unique and highly personal styles. Both thrive in improvised settings, as their work is seeped in spontaneity. Conceived during the COVID 19 pandemic, Mature Defense Mechanism consists of 11 tracks, each carrying a wallop. The album was recorded while the artists were in different cities, Carey in Detroit and Edgcomb in New York.

The music is a deft and riotous melange of influences, moods and ideas. On "Pandemic on a Pogo," Edgcomb starts off with angular percussive bursts that build a lithe polyrhythmic framework. Carey, meanwhile, alternates between tense, muscular phrases and stimulating drones. Together, the pair embrace dissonance that is filled with equal parts angst and whimsy. Their humorous exchanges come to the fore on the relatively-more-serene "Wee-Daisy," which matches Edgcomb's sparse thuds and thrums with Carey's resonant chords.

An expectant ambience ebbs and flows on the album and is perhaps most prominent on the opening tune, "Taste of Foreboding." Carey's guitar emits a delightfully ominous layered sound while Edgcomb punctuates his colleague's extemporization with rustling beats. The result is a gripping and poignant prelude to the remainder of the duets. This restless atmosphere and disquietude bleeds into "Lances Out, Lacan," which follows.

The longest piece, "Brian Wilson's Bad Day," is a bit more relaxed, with a few droll moments. The duo alternate vibrant sonic bursts with silent pauses. As the performance progresses, the exchanges become fierier, with a tinge of unease and dash of the absurd. This perfectly matches some of the darkly comic times that the pandemic brought to society.

Elsewhere, "Mr. T's Transcendental Meditation Class" has a definite rock sensibility. Carey's blistering lines wail with passion while Edgcomb lays down a crystalline and hypnotic groove. Emotive and stimulating, the dialogue is a sonic flood of fervor and excitement, which has no room for any silence. It concludes with an otherworldly tone. Meanwhile, "See Ya," which closes the release, is a delightfully rowdy celebration of noise and a vibrant conversation marked with virtuosic instrumentation.

The cohesive Mature Defense Mechanism is a beautifully uncategorizable and provocative expression by two inventive musicians. It is a poignant and stirring reaction to the times, yet it is also timeless. It is what one expects from the raw talents and sophisticated skills of its two co-creators.