Ambrose Akinmusire / Mary Halvorson: Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings

In a true meeting of great minds, shared aesthetic, and Nonesuch label mates, trumpeter/composer Ambrose Akinmusire and guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson play intently with their new Halvorson and hand-me-down Akinmusire Line 6 DL4 MkII Delay Modeler, and break the dark silence with the spectral movement of Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings. 

More laid back and ambient than either of the influencers' past works—Halvorson's 2022 Nonesuch debut Amaryllis and Belladonna; Code Girl (Nonesuch, 2024); or Akinmusire's Grammy-nominated On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment (Blue Note, 2020) and Origami Harvest (Blue Note, 2018) — Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings ruminates as it illuminates. 

"Prelude In the Ash" sets things in motion with the trumpeter's one-man-standing-in-the-morning declamation. Halvorson drifts in with a simple circular pattern, one that grows and bends as it evolves. And though "Prelude In the Ash" may not be the kind of world-beater one might expect from this music of giants, it sets the tone. Only to have track two, "This Vivid," obliterate the set tone. Arriving with a literal scream that loops back on itself and its audience as the duo have their way with time and space and other abstract thoughts. If you think about the alternate soundtrack for an average hour in post-America, who better than Akinmusire and Halvorson to give us one?

The Morse code-ish, "Nice to meet you again for the first time," sets sail as a baleful conversation between equals ensues. With all its errant squiggles and sharp turns, "Soundcheck" hypnotizes as it unravels like an ancient mystery: clouds part, fog sets in. Halvorson's innate humor is fully focused as she adroitly sculpts her sound at will, creating a dream environment for  Akinmusire to float and revel in.

Set in the diaspora at the end of the world, "Tangled Pretty" is another of those lost alternate soundtracks about a place in time. A place in the mind. A place where thought and moment happen. And what happens is a joining of hearts: Akinmusire calling to a higher realm as Halvorson paints the walls of said realm. 

Featuring Akinmusire's first use of delay and his interaction with and against the evolving sound, Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings continues tidally with "Ofo," an off-the-cuff rendering of the day that was. The reflective "Blood and Sand" and the sonically cinematic title track bring the set to a soaring close. Unfortunately, that is where the joyful hypnosis ends and the exhausting day begins.