In a busy year for American jazz, one of the only things I can say for certain is that this is the most underrated release I’ve heard so far. I love a jazz duo recording and these two players specifically- a trumpeter at perhaps the apex of his career and a jazz guitarist whose seriously in the running for best guitarist, period- it’s genuinely thrilling to get to hear either of their playing so closely, to say nothing of the creativity born from the collaboration.

Creative is the record in a word and the duo format plus lack of overdubs or effects or gimmicks of any kind just gives the music room to breathe. It’s very melodic and beautiful even at its most free. There’s little of the aggression or edge that characterizes a lot of jazz that’s this adventurous (like Halverson’s work with Marc Ribot.) I hear classic 60s avant garde tempered with a very clean indi vibe that almost reminds me of instrumental post-rock or post-hardcore stuff without actually referencing any of that.

Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings is dramatic but in the way a landscape is dramatic, not like a drama on stage. There’s no conflict. There is tension created through things like dissonant or abstract moments but it’s not the kind of tension that’s created in the music and you’re watching it. These songs have emotion of course but they’re too interesting and too complex for a song to be distilled to a feeling. Instead, when you hear the songs they inspire feelings within you, maybe even different ones every listen. I think it takes a real maturity to do that and to do it so concisely.