Edible Flowers

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I was well aware of guitarist Nels Cline's work before coming across this album; he has collaborated with the likes of Thurston Moore, and Mike Watt, has been a member of the underrated drone rockers The Geraldine Fibbers and leads the Nels Cline Trio. I was, I must admit, unaware of his collaborator here, bassist Devin Sarno, but his CV too seems intriguing. In particular he leads the solo bass project Crib, which one zine described as sounding "like if someone gave Elliot Sharp a double dose of prozac and then slowed down the tape", which sounds good to me. Anyhow, together Cline and Sarno have previously released a vinyl-only 12" entitled Rise Pumpkin Rise through LA indie Volvolo, but Edible Flowers, released through the rather fine Win records (another LA underground outfit) is their first long-player. And what a blinder it is. The album brings together new studio work with various live performances given in various small venues across the city of the angels in 1998. The duo are dedicated to creating music spontaneously - but don't go thinking improv. Their music shares much in common with that of other guitarists from the the drone/sound sculpting/post-isolationist thing: KK Null, Jim Plotkin, Loren Mazzacane Connors et al. Which shouldn't give you the idea that this is in any way derivative... far from it. Cline and Sarno definitely have their own sound, as they veer between almost inaudible, shimmering textures and violently abrasive bursts of arc-weld guitar freak outs. You get the picture. The point is, they do it so damn well, with a refreshing feeling of constantly delighting in their own work.