Mike Adcock – prepared piano, accordion, harmonica, Indian harmonium, Tunisian reed pipe, sansa, bird warbler, stones

Clive Bell – shakuhachi, Akha khene, Thai khene, pi saw, harmonica, stereo goathorns, bird call

“Nothing whatsoever to do with jazz, but a completely engrossing CD of improvisations recorded on a collection of accordions, harmonicas and other miscellaneous reed instruments. The musical language sounds more like reinvented folk music, Adcock and Bell creating highly memorable themes and a dramatic sweep lasting nearly an hour that kept this listener glued to his chair.”       –       Philip Clark  –  Jazz Review

“The music has some of the free-wheeling inventiveness of the Incredible String Band at its best – attractive, instrumental vignettes made up on the spot. Shuffle and Deal and We Open Early are harmonica duets; Infanta couples Adcock’s quickly prepared piano with Bell’s shakuhachi to make an evocative tone poem. Other numbers, such as Sketches for a Frenzied Whirling, use space and long tones to establish a mood and sound world all their own. There are some very weird sounds, but also little melodies and hooks to discover. This is not music that tries to be popular or definitive.”      –     John L Walters  –  The Guardian

In a word? Wonderful. Wonderful because of the instruments used (mostly Asian and African harmonicas/flutes, harmonium plus various others), because of the “deep simplicity” of ideas, because of a highly emotional and spiritual level I felt coming from the two involved artists. This is a drop of the purest water and it’s not to be missed, being one of the gentlest and warmest collections I heard in the last years. It’s breathing, pulsing stuff, comparing itself to simple beautiful events – I don’t know exactly the reason but most tracks remind me of a little bird trying his first flight. Esotic instruments notwithstanding, I never smelled a trace of “fake world music” – never in a fraction of a second, an index of sincerity I rarely find elsewhere these days. I can’t help but say “thank you” to Mike and Clive for this major effort; here’s my hoping “Sleep it off” finds a lot of people willing to open themselves and give some room to just a little shade of rare serenity into their ever-convulsed life.    –    Massimo Ricci  –  Touching Extremes