Despite having appeared in concert as a duo for the past three decades, Infinite Paths, remarkably, represents vocalist Karin Krog and sax/wind player John Surman’s first live recording as a duo. The fact that the recording is subtitled ‘with Ben Surman’ gives an indication of the key role played by Surman’s sound engineer son, Ben, who recorded the concert at the Henie Onstad Art Centre (near Oslo) and supplied the atmospheric electronics. The results are never less than captivating, from the dreamlike stasis of ‘Wild Bird’, previously recorded on the 1995 ECM album Nordic Quartet, to the raga-like ruminations of ‘Mother of Light’ recorded on the 1983 ECM album Such Winters of Memory. In songs such as ‘The Red Dragon’, the supremely subtle use of electronica sees Krog’s endlessly-sustained vocal line float above a tintinnabulating backdrop of circling riffs, with Surman’s baritone sax asides adding to the otherworldly atmosphere, the whole bathed in a generous reverb. Mastered by the legendary Jan Erik Kongshaug, the recording sounds terrific.