Amaryllis
Mary Halvorson places her guitar inside a lively group on Amaryllis. Trumpet, trombone, vibraphone, bass and drums each give the music a different colour. No instrument needs to stay in front throughout. The strength comes from how the parts shape a melody together or briefly upset one another's balance.
Night Shift gives that approach an immediate sense of movement. Its rhythm has an uneven pattern, yet the music never feels stiff. The horns and the bright sound of Patricia Brennan's vibraphone keep the melodic lines clear. Small changes in Halvorson's guitar sound pull the whole performance in unexpected directions.
Anesthesia reduces the urgency. The percussion still matters, but there is more space around its details. The title track then creates a striking contrast: the bass moves quickly while trumpet and trombone sound more relaxed above it. Those different speeds make the interaction engaging without becoming hard to follow.
The Mivos Quartet joins from Side Effect onwards. The strings change how the rest of the band sounds. They provide more than a soft background, giving the music a chamber feel while its unusual rhythms remain intact. The transition develops the ideas from the first half rather than abandoning them.
Hoodwink has a firmer, almost marching movement. Halvorson's fingerpicked parts and warped guitar lines fit surprisingly well within it. Closing track 892 Teeth creates a more intimate atmosphere. Its darker tone has room to develop without weighing the music down.
Amaryllis rewards attention to the shared playing. Melodies sometimes disappear briefly between the shifting parts, but a clear connection remains. Halvorson brings many different elements together with a firm sense of direction. Giving the other musicians so much space allows her character as a composer and guitarist to come through clearly.
