BONE BELLS is quite the ride, mixing delicate beauty with raw intensity.
Pyroclastic Records
Sylvie Courvoisier – Piano; Mary Halvorson – Guitar
Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson have spent the past decade building one of the most fascinating partnerships in modern creative music. Courvoisier can move effortlessly between delicate, crystalline passages and explosive bursts of energy, often treating the piano as both a melodic and percussive instrument. Halvorson’s guitar style is quirky, unpredictable; one moment she might be laying down a delicate, lyrical passage, and the next, she’s ripping into a distorted, off-kilter phrase. Together, these two push each other into even more adventurous territory. BONE BELLS, their third duo album and second for Pyroclastic Records, is a bold, beautiful, and unpredictable journey that solidifies them as one of the most exciting piano/guitar duos out there.
While BONE BELLS continues the evolution of their partnership from CROP CIRCLES (2017) and SEARCHING FOR THE DISAPPEARED HOUR (2021), it reveals an even greater sense of fluidity. Each composition alternates between the two musicians, with the music effortlessly shifting between composed and improvised moments, the boundaries of authorship blurring in the duo’s hands.
The title BONE BELLS is taken from a passage in Hernan Diaz’s novel “Trust,” which unfolds across four distinct sections, a novel, an autobiography, a memoir, and a diary, each offering a different perspective that challenges the reader to unravel the truth. Similarly, Halvorson and Courvoisier create music that is both intellectually rich and engaging, with a pleasing complexity that draws you in. Their collaboration has a primal, unpolished feel, like the sound of bones struck and ringing.
‘Bone Bells’ opens the album with Courvoisier’s discordant piano notes setting the stage. Halvorson’s guitar enters, sounding delicate and airy, like the gentle purr of a contented cat, before she twists her notes with a pitch-shifting pedal. Together, the two musicians weave jagged, angular phrases alongside smoother, more fluid lines, creating a dynamic interplay of contrasting textures.
Is ‘Nags Head Valse’ a circus waltz? The piano rumbles before mimicking a calliope. The guitar fires off bursts of notes, followed by percussive slaps on the strings, while the piano keeps pulling at that circus vibe. But as the music unfolds, it grows spookier. Circus music is usually whimsical and playful, yet this piece taps into the “twisted” side of the circus, the kind you’d hear at a haunted carnival or creepy sideshow.
‘Beclouded’ shifts between moments of clarity and haze. The piano begins, sounding classical, but as it progresses, the music becomes more dynamic and intense. At times, the piano almost sounds as if it’s being attacked, adding a layer of chaos and urgency. There’s always a sense that Courvoisier is reaching for something just beyond the notes.
‘Folded Secret’ has the piano and guitar trading minimalist series of notes, machine-like. They trade off phrases, simple phrases that feel like the beginning of something you want to hum along with, but it doesn’t go where you expect it to.
The intriguing ‘Cristellina e Lontano’ closes the album. Halvorson is at her slinky best, bending notes and using subtle slides to create a sound that’s sensual and even a little slippery. Courvoisier demonstrates her mastery of balancing beauty with dissonance.
BONE BELLS is quite the ride, mixing delicate beauty with raw intensity. Courvoisier and Halvorson are two of the most innovative musicians around, and together, they’ve created something both daring and powerful, a conversation between two restless, brilliant minds.
