Mica Levi returns to Slip with six piano pieces played by Eliza McCarthy in ‘Slow Dark Green Murky Waterfall’ - a crepuscular suite riddled with Mica’s inquisitive, conversational phrasing and smartly expanding upon their 7” track, ‘Riding Through Drinking Harpo Dine’ [Foom, 2017], a new recording of which also appears in this set. Gorgeous music, especially recommended if yr into Terre Thaemlitz, Gonzales, Dominique Lawalrée...

The culmination of three years work between Mica and Eliza - winner of the 2013 British Contemporary Piano Competition - ‘Slow Dark Green Murky Waterfall’ follows up their collaboration on the Oscar-nominated score for Pablo Larrain’s ‘Jackie’ score with a finer-shaded, patient space for low-lit, smoky expression that’s so intimate and personal it almost feels like eavesdropping a private recording.

Ineffably bound by a sense of unreal poise, Eliza’s interpretations are subtly, dynamically rendered in-the-mix by Mica to present the pieces as though in flux, like poignant, unresolved statements that occur in the flow of quiet, intent dialogue and linger in the air. It’s testament to the pair’s well-honed intuition that the results connote this feeling so naturally.

And it’s maybe our familiarity with Mica’s work, from her earliest chopped ’n screwed orchestrations, to her ‘Under The Skin’ score and her mutant pop pieces, that we keep expecting hers or Tirzah’s voice to match her melodies with wordless vocals or harmonious limns throughout the six pieces. That’s probably simply down to the fact that Mica writes with such a pop-wise appeal and soulful sensitivity that it prompts subvocalisation in every listener, or maybe it’s just us, but either way the hook of these instrumentals will be floating your head for days, weeks, or a lifetime after they’re imbibed...