What a great idea to merge the Swedish-Irish group Chip Shop with the Barcelona-based ensemble Atol�n. Chip Shop offers saxophone, clarinet, percussion, electronics, and computer, while Atol�n provides trumpet, accordion, and turntables. The skill of these seasoned improvisers, combined with their wide range of instruments, has yielded Public Private, a meditation on impermanence that's pure sonic poetry.

In February 2012, the two groups spent three days together rehearsing and recording, which concluded with a concert in Barcelona. The live performance yielded the 43-minute "Public," the first track on the recording, and the days in the studio generated the 21-minute "Private." Interestingly, during the concert the two groups stayed on different sides of the stage instead of mixing into a big conglomeration. And "Private" was actually created after the fact: once their three days together ended, Ferran Fages from Atol�n mixed together tracks that each group had recorded separately. As Fages states, "The idea was to think of the collaboration as a duo rather than merging everyone into one large ensemble. It wasn't easy to play without being affected by the other group's music, but that was the challenge."

"Public" is a generous piece of music, executed with care and imagination. Out of a black hole of silence, sounds emerge � sometimes understated and low-key, sometimes piercing and keening, sometimes crashing and menacing. These groups are working in a territory infused with the ghostly, a land of what's almost about to happen, what's just on the verge of. The accordion makes itself heard, but it's a specter of itself, an echo with faint edges of noise. A voice emerges, but the words aren't clear and they never return. Hollow-toned drones push aside the air, emerging from beneath only to vanish into mist. A glorious variety of sound materializes among these sonic ruins, including crisp electric sizzles, whirring purrs, corrugated squeals, and all manner of subterranean rumbles. The sounds combine to create a shape-shifting beast that's full of mystery, an impermanent universe full of fleeting beauty.

"Private" continues the dance with a similar sizzling vibe, but this work feels a bit more raw and prickly. Merging drones create a gorgeous hum, but they're interspersed with an edgy pitch that bites at their feet. Percussive shivers sound like brushes played on a red-hot surface, their edges curling with heat. The accordion returns, but here it has a jittery, menacing feel. Fascinating sounds flower throughout: there's something like an angry radiator, plus a throaty beast that resembles a tuba about to burst, not to mention strange, strangled noises similar to a computer gasping for breath. Altogether the piece is an alarmingly elegant dance, crackling on the edge of itself as it simultaneously disappears.

It's a brave thing for two groups with such distinctive sounds to come together to create something new. Chip Shop and Atol�n show how it can be done, remaining true to themselves, while leaving enough space for fresh perspectives. This electroacoustic phantasmagoria is a sheer delight from beginning to end, and the fact that it's a collaboration makes it even more intriguing.