An unlikely pairing, cellist Ulrike Brand is best known for her work with John Cage and Giacinto Scelsi, while Olaf Rupp is a regular contributor in a variety of setting in the European Free Improv scene; here they join for an album of free improvisation, finding shared and gripping language in creative and uncommon approaches to their strings.
"Rupp's duo with German cellist Ulrike Brand is very different to Xenofox. The cello is often associated with acoustic, rather romantic music, while the electric guitar is the classic rock appendage - a feminine instrument against a symbol of machismo. Thankfully, Brandt and Rupp don't fall into these stereotypes. Brand is a well-known interpreter of contemporary classical music (she's edited books on John Cage and Giacinto Scelsi) and uses the full range of modern techniques, while Rupp barely uses guitar effects or rock chords, apart from on the opening "Rotbuche". In exploring their instruments' similarities in sound and color, switching roles, and in modulating and juxtaposing their material, the duo find a common language.
This is clearest in the last two pieces. In "Moorkolk", Rupp's guitar takes on the hue of a breathy reed instrument with Brand's cello providing high-pitched, barely audible notes. It's like the sound of marshland at night ("Moorkolk" is German for the water at the center of a marsh). A disturbing and intense piece of music. On "Offenes Geleucht" (Open Light) Rupp plays open notes against Brand's continuous vibrato bowing. Ideas echo and bounce between them.
[...] Shadowscores displays Rupp's versatility and is a fine example of musical empathy."-Martin Schray, The Free Jazz Collective