Constantly busy with other projects, experienced sound explorers Damon Smith, Sandy Ewen and Weasel Walter unite for their third trio disc and their first since 2016. The result is a mixture of lower-case improvisation and up-front aggressive pressure. The six untitled selections take full advantage of Walter's moderated drum cadences, Smith's thick pizzicato ostinato and arco slides plus Ewen's enterprising table-top guitar impetus. Probably recorded in real time, the intertwined trio maneuvers become more definite and decisive as the session advances.

Besides a tour as three-quarters of Roscoe Mitchell's quartet, each trio members has extensive creative music history: Smith with everyone from Jason Stein to Udo Schindler; Walter with Maria Faust and Vinny Golia; and Ewen with Stephen Gauci.

Starting off emphasizing thick bass string shuffles, intermittent drum rumbles and cymbal smashes, Ewen's occasional string twangs and amp hums don't ascend to challenging counterpoint until the last four selections. By that time her periodic frails and string slaps become more assertive as zither-like pops and stops plus dial-twisting fuzz and unamplified string strums make common cause with Walter's underlying drum rumbles and Smith's bass thumps. "5. (7:38)" is a robust Smith feature. With a backdrop of pressurized drum gallops and electrified guitar wiggles, he alternates between fragmented arco squeals and buzzing spiccato patterns that become speedier as the exposition advances horizontally.

Nevertheless the final "7. (6:51)" is conclusion, crescendo and climax all at once. Attaining heightened interaction and amplification, Ewen's prepared and buzzing strings angle upwards to cleverly meet Smith's col legno smacks and string stabs. Walter's idiophone shakes and balling paper-like crackles create contrapuntal affiliations to the others' motions. With the guitarist emphasizing amplified flanges in the penultimate seconds, Smith's singular abrasive string scrapes and Waler's lone bell-like clips at the end also reference the lower-case interludes that have also animated the session.

As a stand-alone trio Ewen, Smith and Walter seem to release an album every five to 10 years. Judging from the sounds here, a foreshortened time lapse would be welcome.