Blazing/Freezing

This impish New York trio venerate the innovations of Bill Monroe while simultaneously shattering the music he pioneered into tiny extemporised pieces. It's his high-lonesome sound which provides the launchpad here for a chaotic whirl of wild and warped convolutions. Tracks such as ‘Tennessee Blazes’ and the impressively-titled ‘Historic Western Ghost Town Engulfed in Fire’ initially toy with the bluegrass tradition, then usurp it in spasmodic flurries of skittish mandolin, ramshackle percussion and razor-toothed violin. The ever wonderful Susan Alcorn chimes in on two of the album's finest moments – ‘Brack Water Waltz’ and ‘Midnight on the Ice’ – her lilting pedal-steel paired with burbling electronics to create a delightful sci-fi B-movie vibe. Not one for the purists, perhaps, but Blazing/Freezing offers ample rewards for fans of genre-mangling progressives such as Eugene Chadbourne and Mary Halvorson.