Loren Connors & Suzanne Langille - Crucible LP

Label: Carbon

Release Date: March 7th, 2025

Continuing much of the instrumental, musically dense partnership of Loren Connors and Suzanne Langille in the 80s and 90s, Crucible stands out as a clear highlight in the pair's musical partnership, despite the music not featuring the pair performing together.

Full of Connors’ beautifully droning walls of sound, and Langille deconstructive approach to Americana melodicism, Crucible is getting a vinyl reissue on Carbon Records. Loren Connors, with multiple decades worth of projects, needs no introduction. One of the forefathers of American free improvisation, Loren Connors sits on the throne among the ranks of other talented improvisers, such as Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis (whom he has released a tribute album for), and a major inspiration in much of his work, Derek Bailey.

Full of heavy, crushing solo-guitar work, much of Connors output here feels very appropriate to the era, with tracks like "First Light" perfectly capturing his ambient, yet incredibly light and minimalistic guitar work. Don't get it twisted here though, Connors’ melodies, while soft and delicate, are figures calling for especially deep listening, as seen through songs like "Pipe Dream" and "Single Heart," where the thoughtfulness of his playing adds volumes to the waterfalls of texture beneath. The duo instrumental works also demonstrate his restrained yet expansive approach; the piece "O'Donnells Camp" feeling almost like a post rock interpretation of some Spanish-Style duet in A minor. Additionally, poet-vocalist Suzanne Langille's solo pieces perfectly align with the album's guitar-centric tracks, blending American songbook and folk influences in "Crying Low." While the more artful "Morning Doubt" is about the frustration in trying to achieve honesty and individual truth, with so many forces influencing us in how we show ourselves. "Dimstar" was penned during Loren's diagnosis with Parkinson's disease. Leading up to the diagnosis, there was the possibility that Loren had a different, and terminal disease. This song is Suzanne reaching out to Loren, calling him back from the edge of sanity.

"Don't get lost in the light. You never know when you shut your eyes, but sleep took us to dawn again, hold and be held again."

Crucible is a must listen for any avid listener of Loren Connors and Suzanne Langille, and should be considered required listening for anyone trying to make the plunge deeper into experimentalism of any genre of music.