The first surprise is that, somehow, Loren MazzaCane Connors and David Grubbs have never recorded as a duo. They both favor slow, melancholic music and they both had close working relationships with Jim O'Rourke, but somehow, apparently, their paths haven't crossed in the studio until now. The second surprise is that Connors hasn't previously worked with piano, at least not very often and not on record. The tempered tones are an unlikely yet obvious foil for his slow, yearning blues.

In the first half of Arborvitae, Grubbs on piano provides a new setting for Connors, whose aesthetic changes at a glacial pace. The boxed intonation of the piano gives him something to try to get out of. The two guitar duos - tracks three and four of the five-track, 30-minute disc - are less interesting, if only because Connors has done so many guitar duets in the past (most often with O'Rourke and Alan Licht). But the album is nicely sequenced and the duets work well as a buffer before the quiet explosion of the final track.

The performances and recording quality of Connor's releases have gotten better in the last couple years as (or because) his output has slowed. This, along with the two volumes of Departing of a Dream on Family Vineyard, is one of his warmest, most engaging discs to date.