Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works - Volume 2

Group Listening's brilliant first album, Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works,Vol.1', was a haunting, meditative and lovingly considered selection box of musical reworkings. It featured rearranged tracks by the likes of Arthur Russell, Brian Eno and Robert Wyatt. Fast forward three years and the pair started 'Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works Vol. 2' from an altogether different vantage point. Whereas their first record was put together over an intense three-day period in a hired-out studio, Vol. 2 saw the pair having to work around various pandemic lockdowns. Taken as a whole, there's a gorgeous ambience to the record but that shouldn't be confused for Volume 2 being an ambient listen. The organic understanding that Black and Jones have of each other's processes as musicians means that the music sounds incredibly fluid, but the overall tranquillity of the record is made up of dozens of small nuances. It's a puzzle that's been put together just below the surface as the duo react with a warm emotion to the songs they've chosen.