Maggie Nichols and Peter Nu have teamed to explore the various possibilities of microtonality between the piano and human voice. Nowhere on the cover, in the CD booklet, or on the disc does
Nichols 'n' Nu prepare the listener for what she or he is about to encounter. This is music that adopts various forms of folk and improvised musics such as blues, jazz, scat, Scandanavian yodeling, operatic aria, Indian raga singing, conversational poetry, Tibetan chant, medieval plainchant, German meadow melodies, and many more, and takes the guts out of them, places them next to one another and observes with interest what comes out. Nichols is a vocalist extraordinaire. Her range is the same as the piano's, and she can fill in the cracks. Nu is a consummate "tonalist." He is interested -- here at least -- in the instrument's tonal possibilities only, not its "action" or his own technical abilities as a soloist. He plays the role of an accompanist with verve and aplomb. He provides Nichols with a textural palette she can explore from every side and turn inside out. There are beautiful melodies here, and there are frightening moans and groans as well as spaces where both musicians seem to be at the limit of expression before one of them has yet another inspiration before the entire thing collapses on its arse. Make no mistake: This is an "art" record. But it is the most unpretentious "art" record of its decade. This is as bare and brave as it gets, with all the mistakes and hanging thread ideas left in the mix for the listener to be awed by. This set is nothing less than truly amazing not only for what it accomplishes, but for how authentically it fails. ~ Thom Jurek