McWatt, named after Sarah McWatt, who plays flute and accordion in this interesting duo, make acoustic instrumental music that's minimal without being minimalist, and their tunes comfortably occupy the often uneasy territory between chamber music and folk. McWatt is ably partnered by Seth Bennett (double bass and accordion), and as no breakdown of composers is given, I assume they work on the pieces together. The tracks, only one of which tops the four minute mark, are untitled, presumably to avoid referentiality. The album is, in fact, nicely ambiguous in almost every regard; without knowing that the musicians who made it are British, based in Liverpool and Leeds, I'd be hard pushed to guess even their country of origin.

That said, the first track sounds like the slightly mannered opening measures of one of Henry Threadgill's 1980s dirges, and tracks seven, eight and ten have something of Howard Skempton's songlike complexity-in-simplicity about them. The fact that Skempton has written extensively for accordion makes the comparison nigh unavoidable. But he probably wouldn't have made space in his tightly focused music for the pensive double bass solo that Bennett provides on the final track (and in track five), nor the track's seemingly extempore fade-out. McWatt and Bennett shuffle the instrumentation judiciously throughout the album to present the music to best advantage, and everything falls into place naturally, free of contrivance. McWatt is one of the most refreshing and pleasurable CDs I've heard this year, and I sincerely hope there's more to come from this duo.

 

Reviewed by Brian Marley