Detached

For lovers of boundary-pushing music, a flute and a diatonic accordion may not seem an immediately thrilling prospect. Here, however, the instruments are in the expert hands of Muller and Munnelly, neither one willing to be restricted by genre or geography. They begin gently enough with a lament before moving in and out of traditional textures and sounds as they experiment with the form as well as the content of their art. Soaring melodies from Muller's outstanding flutistry joyously combine with Munnelly's alternating rasping staccato rhythms and richly voiced harmonics.

The album takes as its core theme a line from the title-track ‘Detached’, other than ‘Lullaby’, the only track here with vocals. At the heart of it is a searching question: ‘What if you can't go forward, without going back?’ Around this the whole album revolves, as the duo seek to manage the creative tension of being steeped in tradition while also toying with the very nuts and bolts of their craft. Expect a combination of Gallic insouciance and Gaelic playfulness from the Netherlands-based pair as they deliver what they have described as ‘an abstract representation’ of their musical ideas.