Food - Quiet Inlet

(ECM Records)

Saxophonist Iain Ballamy’s Food has taken various forms over the years, but this latest edition is a duo with the band’s co-founder, Norwegian percussionist Thomas Strønen, familiar in these parts from collaborations with Phil Bancroft and Mr McFalls Chamber. Nils Petter Molvaer adds atmospheric contributions on trumpet and electronics on four tracks, while Austrian guitarist Christian Fennesz is featured on the other three.

As the title and personnel suggests, there is a distinctly north European rather than American feel to the music. The shifting moods and musical textures are developed through interactive improvisation and live electronics. Ballamy is in fine voice on both tenor and soprano, blowing lyrical, starkly etched melody lines over Strønen’s percussive frameworks, which in turn alternate between the spacious and abstract and a more urgent vein drawing on contemporary dance music.