Nadje Noordhuis + James Shipp: Multitudes

Trumpeter Nadje Noordhuis and percussionist/synthesist James Shipp have proven to be a most compelling pair. Their Indigo (Little Mystery, 2017)—a duo album built on a shared outlook and fellow feeling—was a faithful introduction to the sound of simpatico souls in musical motion. And this eagerly awaited follow-up, while playing true to this continuing story of two, is largely about the art of expansion. Eager to take their partnership to a new place by broadening design concepts through an extended creative process with responsive editing and layering, this duo embraced new mechanisms for development which, ultimately, birthed this beauty of a record.

Noordhuis and Shipp maintain an open-minded outlook across ten originals that move around and above our known world. Shipp's "Snow Line" shepherds the ears into a wondrous universe aglow with the light of a horn, vibes and heavenly synths. Noordhuis' "These Days" operates on two different sides of the seams of possibility, with paintings over a playful, rhythmically invigorating motif, and observations on the shimmering graces of the great beyond. Her "Lumino" grows around Shipp's grooves and mallet magic, offering pure joy in its unfolding. And "Encantamento"—the pair's only co-credited composition on the menu—juxtaposes bubbling beats against glacial wind wanderings.

Much of this music proves personal for its creators—Shipp's "Candlestick Carol," for example, uses the sounds of brass candlesticks in the telling of the composer's first Christmas apart from his family—but all of it resonates on a universal level. Whether contending with an enormity in existence on the title track, embracing and appreciating a tuneful and stately spectrum of colors on "Rainbow" or offering a tearful parting with "To Say Goodbye," Noordhuis and Shipp find a way to tap into the very nature of being. A tale of two with a sound and outlook larger than themselves, Multitudes truly operates on a scale of its own.

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