Giacomo Merega & Joe Morris - Opus dichotomous (2024)

Studies in dichotomy. Bass guitarist Giacomo Merega and guitarist Joe Morris have released three recordings on the iconic Swiss label Hat Hut/ezz-thetics (Descendants, Cluster Swerve and Out Of The Hole) since 2011 and performed extensively as members (alongside drummer Jason Nazary) of saxophonist Noah Kaplan’s quartet. Now, they present this duo of improvisation. The recording consists of music intensely devoted to the exploration of dichotomy as a type of musical interaction, where even a unison can be dichotomous. Dichotomy as an incomplete responsorium, or a bipolar monologue. This music is often dense, fearlessly virtuosic, it has a vocation to be rough but can’t help being meticulously articulate at the same time. It can’t be devoid of a mood, of course, but it has no interest in being more than just one thing. The first and the last tracks are different, they transport the listener in and out of a place: the other tracks are that place. “Between the conception and the creation, between the emotion and the response falls the shadow” (T.S. Eliot).

Giacomo Merega - bass guitar and volume pedal (1 and 9)
Joe Morris - guitar and pedals (1 and 9)