Home » Music » Song of the Day

Twin Machines by Angell & Crane

From the album

Album Title: Angell & Crane
Label: Self Produced
Released: 2024

Listen

About the Album

For more than two decades, guitarist Simon Angell and drummer Tommy Crane have been making music with a parade of celebrated band-mates across the jazz, indie rock, and experimental music scenes. Now, working as a duo for the first time, the long-sought-after Montreal-based instrumentalists have decided to pursue their own project. They began by improvising freely, recording days worth of their explorations. Next, they began to transfigure and re- sculpt these sessions, applying a full suite of modern production techniques to temper and reassemble the raw material. “Often, in jazz-adjacent and improvised music, once everything is recorded, the production side of things is forgotten about completely,” explains Angell. There are a handful of exceptions — Teo Macero’s cut-ups for Miles Davis, Makaya McCraven’s electrifying live edits — but for improvisers, studio exploration is usually brushed aside in pursuit of an unmodified sound some might consider more “authentic.” Not so here: Angell & Crane have constructed a sound-space that shudders, shimmers and shatters, weaving together ECM-style jazz, ambient drone, and fervid “no wave” punk. Angell & Crane spent six days improvising in studio, joined by a pair of guests — alto saxophonist Charlotte Greve and singer Sarah Rossy. They amassed whole days worth of material, painstakingly recorded with as many microphones and inputs as possible to retain as much three dimensional depth and as many mixing options as possible. The next phase? Distilling 40 hours of sound into just 40 minutes. With their self-titled debut, Angell & Crane have produced an adventurous, wide- ranging album full of hunger and curiosity. Angell & Crane was released worldwide on Friday, November 8th, 2024 via For The Living And The Dead.

Tracks

Twin Machines; Swingjugend; SALT I; Unearth; Himalayan Dial-Up; SALT II; Honguedo; Hesa Fredrik; Yellow Diamond; Subsequent Flooding; Eight Years to Okuma; 2000 Decades.

Personnel

Angell & Crane

band / ensemble / orchestra

Simon Angell

guitar

Tommy Crane

drums

Sarah Rossy

vocals

Charlotte Greve

saxophone, alto

Additional Personnel

Simon Angell: guitars, bass, synth; Tommy Crane: drums, percussion, drum programming, synths, vibraphone; Sarah Rossy (3, 5, 8); Charlotte Greve: alto sax (4), flute (5).

Reviews

Angell & Crane by Dan McClenaghan

Date featured

January 30, 2025

This song appears by permission of the contributing artist and/or record company. It is for personal use only; no other rights are granted or implied.