Collin Buttimer on Tom Arthurs and Ollie Bown

“This brief EP available from www.posteverything.com is a rather gorgeous melding of electronics and trumpet. Tom Arthurs’ playing is warm and soft as velvet, his brief phrases alternately playing off against, and mingling with electronic clusters courtesy of Ollie Bown. The latter’s work signifies as much analogue 70’s heaven as millennial digitalia.

Second track ‘Compression’ is more angular, sped-up and gritty, while Arthurs’ humane tone becomes mournful, hedged in by whirrs, wheezes and thumps. Though these three tracks initially prompt thoughts of Chicago Underground Duo in reflective mode, Graham Haynes’ Tones for the 21st Century, Rhys Chatham’s trumpet work or Jon Hassel circa City, Works of Fiction, it becomes quickly clear that the music quickly defines it’s own distinctly contemporary digital territory.

The interaction between electronic and acoustic instrumentation is convincing, highly engaging and at times thrilling. Let’s hope they release a full-length album next time.”
Colin Buttimer, Jazzwise

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