Ingrid Laubrock plays tenor and soprano saxes as she leads the EOS Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Susanne Blumenthal on one disc, and the Ingrid Laubrock Small Ensemble on the second.
The former includes electronicist Sam Plute, Cory Smythe on piano and quarter-tone keyboard, bassist Robert Landermann and drummer Tom Rainey. The loos and rumbling rhythm supports eerie and loose meanderings and a myriad of directions. The second disc keeps Smythe and Pluta, but replaces the rest with electric harpist Zeena Parkins, violinist Josh Modney and Adam Matlock on the accordion. The results are almost the same, with Laubrock’s tenor plodding over the dark mix of synthetic sounds, ominous piano and Hitchcockian strings. The reverse of Eno’s ambient music?