INGRID LAUBROCK, TOM RAINEY - Counterfeit Mars

"On Counterfeit Mars, Ingrid Laubrock and Tom Rainey refine the saxophone-drums duo into something both lean and endlessly elastic, turning thirteen compact pieces into a model of precision, wit, and intuitive design. Built from material developed during their pandemic-era “Stir Crazy” sessions, the album blurs composition and improvisation so seamlessly that structure feels less imposed than discovered in motion, with Laubrock’s tenor and soprano shifting between lyric abstraction, tart melodic fragments, and slyly bent lines while Rainey answers with restless, exquisitely detailed percussion that shapes every turn without ever overplaying"