Reeds hero Peter Brötzmann and powerhouse drummer Paal Nilssen-Love enjoyed a long association – from Nilssen-Love’s tenure in Brötzmann’s Chicago Tentet, through the quartet Hairy Bones, with bassist Massimo Pupillo and trumpeter Toshinori Kondo, and as a hard-working duo. While most of their recorded collaborations documented live performances that foregrounded high-energy pyrotechnics, this rare duo studio date from 2015 presents a somewhat more meditative and exploratory vibe.

Across eight compact improvisations – none longer than seven minutes – Brötzmann concentrates on the Hungarian tárogotó, a cache of clarinets, including a recently-acquired contra-alto, and a bass sax, offering some of his most considered and atmospheric playing, with low, slow tones placed just so. Nilssen-Love brings several hitherto unused Korean gongs to the session, sounding them out in real time and evoking a kind of ghostly gamelan in the process.

As one might expect from this notoriously muscular pair, there’s some vigorous action too, with Brötzmann ascending into his more customary overblown brays and tortured barks while Nilssen-Love churns and crashes at the kit with abandon. But, on the whole, it’s a captivating lesson in restraint and the power of the simple gesture.