Kihlstedt / Bossi / Ismaily

Heavily influenced by the Borgesian obsession with dreams and the surreal, this trio of improvisers have captured the spirit of the Argentinean author's short, labyrinthine fiction over the course of 13 tracks. Utilizing a plethora of instruments, Carla Kihlstedt's gorgeous voice and field recordings captured during the course of their travels, the three performers present an album as eclectic as it is awe-inspiring. The field recordings serve as a fourth musician, adding a sense of phantasmagoria to Kihlstedt's violin, Matthias Bossi's drumming and Shahzad Ismaily's guitar and bass. In terms of genre, Causing a Tiger is hard to pin down. Book ended by a pair of near-bluegrass ditties, which are a diversion from the rest of the material, the album registers in the psyche as a collection of stories, rather than a group of songs possessing a singular style. This allows the players' unique vision to unfold freely.