I initially became aware of Steve Gunn through his New Weird America associations, specifically his collaboration with drummer John Truscinski—both were mainstays at ‘00s North Brooklyn venues like Zebulon and Union Pool. Back then, the core ethos of the Gunn-Truscinski duo hinged around evolving, longform improvisations, but rather than the rollicking Sandy Bull and Billy Higgins-type adventures on which they used to embark, the music on Live in London, Gunn’s new collaboration with the pianist David Moore, is closer to the icy sound world of ECM. I even hear a tinge of the Norwegian jazz guitarist Terje Rypdal. 

I use the term icy here not to conjure a sense of cold or unfeeling—the music is quite emotional, if slightly subdued—but rather to evoke the crystalline precision of both the record’s recording fidelity and the slow evolution of each track. It’s a beautiful and satisfying listen through and through. The record is out now on RVNG Int’l.