Air Space - Cricket Cipher (2024)

Air Space is the sonic dialogue between percussionist Brian Shankar Adler (Kinan Azmeh, Jane Ira Bloom) and keyboardist Mike Effenberger (fiveighthirteen). Inspired by the minimalist structures and analogue textures of artists like Brian Eno, Ólafur Arnalds, Jóhann Jóhannsson, and Nils Frahm, the duo transcends boundaries, creating an atmospheric soundtrack to the somnambulist’s night in the deep woods.

Their expansive sound comes from Effenberger's analog and digital keyboards and tape delays, pitted against Adler’s genre-defying use of percussion from South America, South Asia and the sewers of Brooklyn. Blending Indian raga, post-Cageian minimalism, and lo-fi nostalgia with an occasional field recording of crickets, tiny sparks fly while the music retains a deceptively serene appearance. There is a haunting alchemy in the collision of Effenberger’s hazy, warbly approach to synthesis and Adler’s incisive rhythmic personality.

At times complementary, at times combative, and always richly musical, the duo explores site specific new music as well as the occasional unsuspecting gem from elsewhere. Effenberger says: "I have long been interested in the possibilities that come from two very different things being allowed to simply be different rather than negotiate a truce, existing alongside each other without giving up their individualities. Brian's musicality absorbs the challenge with a grace that is exciting and inspiring."