AMARYLLIS

A very good album with emphasis on arrangements, combining horns and vibraphone with the guitar trio, then incorporating a string quartet on the second half. Lots of irony and detachment, sometimes in an impressionistic way. Halvorson's style is resolutely un-flashy, Guitar tone-wise, she spends a lot of attention coordinating two signals, one of which is hooked up to a pitch bender and maybe other effects. This album is similar in texture to Sean Moran's Small Elephant Band but kinder. The whole album is great, but standouts are the title track, a high-energy workout opening with bassist Dunston digging in, supporting running lines with a double-time rhythm in asymmetrical divisions, and an epic trumpet solo by Adam O'Farrill following nice chromatic chord changes. Also "Hoodwink" with modernist string quartet writing with spectral harmonics and a haze of dissonance. Halvorson enters with enchanting guitar arpeggiations, making a sumptuous texture. Halvorson later solos with intriguing pitch bendy effects and it ends with a great composed tag.