"Similar to the Gauguet only in the sense that the strategy involved has been done before yet the results are striking and very well conceived. Alexis, for these five pieces, made field recordings in various situations including train lines and factories, concentrating on different sound areas within each while Rives created his soprano saxophone improvisations at another time and place without reference to Alexis' recordings, the two grafted atop each other leaving the listener to make connections and patterns.

I'm guessing some amount of choice was made, perhaps by Alexis, in determining which of Rives' recordings to use with which of his own (simply because they seem to "fit" pretty well), but otherwise, chance is allowed to rule vis a vis the interaction of the elements. Rives spends substantial time in his "comfort zone" of the high-pitched, two- or three-ply tone (pairs well with wind) but also engages in deep buzzes and low clucks while Alexis' choice of venuesecording sites is also imaginative, from the fine, heavy openings and closings of squeaking factory doors to exterior, rainy environs.

The one scenario that stands apart here is "Solid Steel Sculpture" where I'm fairly sure some large metal element is being "played", possibly by gloved hands, resulting in a sound (and even rhythms) not so dissimilar from Partch's larger percussion instruments like the Marimba Eroica. As said, the listener creates his/her own correspondences and, thanks to the wealth of material and the imagination which which it's deployed, there's no problem doing so. A very enjoyable, thoughtful exercise."-Brian Olewnick, Just Outside