Reviewed by Andy Long

There is a music that goes beyond mere songs. A music that flows directly from the soul of the artist and expresses itself freely. A music that has no regard for the boundaries that would be placed upon it by "markets" and "trends". A pure music. It takes a special kind of musician to capture that music. Here are two such musicians. Steve Lawson and Jez Carr recorded 'Conversations' with no preset agenda, just a desire to play together and see what happened. The result is outstanding. The deeply layered contrasts between the two instruments creates a stark landscape, peppered with deep colours. Steve is known as a gadget-head, but for this album used just one looping device. With it he creates all manner of rhythmic patterns, chordal loops and strange background noises. Anything you hear that is not piano is bass guitar, although ometimes it's difficult to believe that. Steve and Jez share a creative heart and an instinctive ability to listen to each other and react accordingly. It is this interplay that makes 'conversations' work so well. It is an intensely "listenable" album and something that you will find yourself going back to and re-exploring again and again.


Andy Long plays bass for Welsh rockers 3rd Day Rising and has been writing for Cross Rhythms for years.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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