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Dhafer Youseff and Wolfgang Muthspiel

Glow

Material Records MRE 019-2

Anyone who's witnessed Austrian guitarist Wolfgang's Muthspiel's Vortex appearances over the years will know exactly why the words 'meticulous', 'musicality' and 'delicacy' feature so heavily in his reviews: he's simultaneously capable of producing contemplative intensity and muscular, controlled power, so his live performances are simply entrancing.

In 2001, he recorded with French-based Tunisian oud player and singer Dhafer Youssef on the highly acclaimed Electric Sufi; this album sees them collaborate once again, their music sporadically augmented by trumpeter Tom Harrell, drummer Alegre Correa and bassist Matthias Pichler (plus a single vocal contribution from Rebekka Bakken).

Their material ranges from melancholy, plaintive vocalising set against filigree guitar to more sprightly, vigorous pieces propelled by Correa's brisk percussion and decorated by Harrell's plangent flugelhorn, but whatever the mood, Muthspiel and Youssef's musical compatibility and sheer musicianly integrity imbue everything they play and sing with elegance, grace and subtle fire.

As Muthspiel himself comments: 'It's as if we made a film together, and then I did the edit I am always on the lookout for music which is so powerful that I don't have to think about anything except to follow the impulse which is present in the room.' Glow is the perfect vindication of such an approach warmly recommended.