Ours

In 2018, the collective trio Thumbscrew — Mary Halvorson on guitar, Michael Formanek on bass, Tomas Fujiwara on drums — released two albums simultaneously. Ours contains nine new compositions, three by each member. Halvorson’s three pieces (“Snarling Joys,” “Smoketree” and “Thumbprint”) are gentle, with a blues/folk feel and a loose, free swing; Formanek’s (“Cruel Heartless Bastards,” “Words That Rhyme With Spangle (angle bangle dangle jangle mangel mangle strangle tangle wangle wrangle)” and “Unconditional”) have more of a rock energy and two of the three feature a heavy rock backbeat; Fujiwara’s (“Saturn Way,” “One Way” and “Rising Snow”) are mellow and abstract, almost soundscapes; the way he deploys atmospheric cymbal washes, you’d think you were listening to an ECM release.