First meeting of guitarist Tashi Dorji and drummer Steve Noble, recorded at OTO in June 2023. The set begins with a deceptive sparseness, Dorji picking out jagged clusters of guitar notes as Noble’s cymbals swirl around them like a deep inhalation. You might want to take that breath too, you’re going to need it.

Dorji soon ratchets up the distortion as Noble circles around the kit with an unflagging momentum and the pair of them are soon hurtling along in a whirling, tumbling barrage of sound and fury. But cathartic as it is, this is no aimless blowout. For all the rapturous chaos, there are moments of delicate beauty that ring out all the clearer amidst the surrounding storm.

Aside from anything else it’s the sheer amount of ground covered here. Two masters of their respective instruments seemingly bringing all of their skills to bear across the set’s 35-minute running time. Dorji has a way of playing the guitar that is all his own; coruscating jabs of distortion giving way to skittering, stop-start harmonics, muted strings that clip and yammer, yearning single notes escalating into a bewitching, howling maelstrom. Needless to say, Noble matches him every step of the way, expanding upon the intricacies of Dorji’s playing to reveal new and unexpected shapes in the cataclysm. Rhythms and textures emerge, evolve, and fracture with a ceaselessly propulsive drive.

With such synergetic complexity, it’s hard to believe that this was their first time playing together. We can only hope it won’t be the last.

And breathe.

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Recorded by Billy Steiger
Mixed by Tashi Dorji
Mastered by Oli Barrett
Cover design by Oli Barrett