Borderland Melodies features three modern clamber works from Swiss composer and clarinettist Jürg Frey.  All the compositions feature a pared back, slowed, at times fraught toned & paced work- making this very much an album to slowly sink into its largely sombre depths.

The CD release appears on the excellent modern classical/ modern composition label Another Timbre. It’s presented in the labels house style mini and plain gatefold- which on its front cover taking in a  picture of a near dusk stark tree-lined landscape, which of course is perfect for what we sonically find inside.

The pieces here date from between 2014 and 2021. All the tracks here are played by the respected modern ensemble Apartment House, with the track's sonic pallet being based around a blend of violin, clarinet, cello and bass clarinet- with very subtle piano and percussive elements appearing in a few tracks. First, out of the gate, we have the 18.21-minute title track- this consists of hovering string and horn hazes, which are ever so often broken by even-paced & subtly rising piano melodies. It’s a piece that dwells in both the soothingly forlorn, and plaintive felt.

Next, we have “L’état de simplicité” this is a four-part piece which runs a total of twenty-one minutes. It moves between glum horn hovers, sparsely desperate string simmer, warbling drifts, and slowly gliding swoons- with the whole piece having quite an episodic flow to its slow plodding, to gloomy treading pace.

Finally, we have “Movement, Ground, Fragility” this is the longest piece here at just over the thirty-minute mark. It slowly builds itself up from just an evenly wavering hover & light sliding scrapes- to a cleverly layered & detailed composition. As it progresses we get the addition of occasional single-note piano key darts, subtle string & horn simmers, and more pared back-yet-atmospherically rich percussive detail.

With Boarderland Melodies Frey once again proves he’s a subtly captivating mood-setter. It’s an album you have slowly but surely become accustomed to, until you find yourself self-locked into its gently hovering & glumly plodding charm.