Both side-long tracks lay out a spacious framework, with the two players supporting simple but elegant melodies that recall Brüder des Schattens-era Popol Vuh and various modal / devotional styles. While the sound of the Chaturangui’s sympathetic strings provides a constant electric blanket of comfort, Carbonara’s playing is concise and restrained, forgoing the kind of melismatic ornamentation that is a stylistic tic of much Indian-inspired music. Sparhawk, whose expert playing adds much to Fern Knight’s complex orchestrations, steps out and extends his instrument using various techniques: fingerpicking guitar-like patterns that interlock with Carbonara, and using sharply struck attacks at the upper register for a piano-like effect. On “The Entwined Twin,” the dry crack of a snare drum (played by Julius Masri) enters after a few minutes, ratcheting up the urgency and adding an unexpected texture to the proceedings. The excellent recording captures both instruments in detail with close-up, intimate feel.
