Saxophonist Butcher and percussionist Prévost are not the kind of musicians to turn in substandard performances, but even by their high standards this is a remarkably compelling disc. The recording by engineer Steve Lowe renders the protesting metallic wail of Prévost's tam-tam and Butcher's disparate whispers, squelches, and immaculately joined multiphonic excursions as vivid as sunlight in the tropics, and the player's interaction is fully up to the scrutiny enabled by such transparency. The AMM aesthetic manifests in the way parallel iprovisations coexist without forcing an obvious relationship, and there is a feeling throughout the record that Butcher is making his space on Prévost's turf. But maybe it's just that no other percussionist who has recorded with Butcher has ever so rigorously confined himself; for most of the record Prévost sticks to bowed sounds on a single instrument, in stark contrast with the split-second changes of Gino Robair or the sonic and stylistic change-ups of Gerry Hemingway. Such self-discipline leads to music that is not at all flashy, but instead evolves with unshakable rightness. "Interworks" is a great one by great ones!
Bill Meyer
Signal to Noise, Spring 2006