Damsel - Distressed [CD]

This is a collaboration between avant-jazz legend Nels Cline and omnipresent beat freak Zach Hill. Sitting somewhere between the most abstract freak-outs of Wilco's more recent material and the looser, more minimalist moments of Hella, Damsel exhibits a surprising amount of control over it's chaos. The four improvised pieces here run the gamut from serene electro-acoustic ambience to unhinged, cathartic squall. It's not the sound of losing control so much as it is trusting in an intangible force.