Derek Baron, Luke Martin

*100 copies limited edition* This meet-up between two thoughtful practitioners of minimal and process-oriented music succeeds not because it is resourceful but because its gestures are clearheaded. Disciplined and exploratory, it is like observing someone fixing a watch: methodical and calm, periodically getting up and selecting a tool, working for stretches of full concentration, and hearing the footsteps and rustle of clothing. The titles of the pieces – “Distinct” and “Concealed” – suggest tensions between public self-presentation and private self-knowledge, and yet these recordings were made live, with sounds of the room and the activity and movements of the players suggesting a theatricality that complicates both poles.

“Distinct” plays like a long-delayed catch-up session between friends, seriousness arising periodically before resolving into active and glassy communication. If “Distinct” is a catch-up, “Concealed” plays as a tense second meeting: piano-led, with zipped spoken-word loops and long stretches of pause, eventually falling into a satisfying equilibrium. The barely controlled nature of no-input mixing confronts the more manageable elements of electronics and tape, with keyboards complicating the relationship. In the hands of Baron and Martin, minimalism is a constant and active search.