Windsleepers

Windsleepers: La Fiancee du Pirate

by John Fidler
October 8, 2006

This debut album by the European Windsleepers ensemble delivers jolts of excitement within a rich, abstract tapestry of sound that's sculpted in large measure by Christine Clement's atmospheric contralto. Her voice, by turns piercing and pastoral, often is indistinguishable from the reeds as it weaves in and around Roby Glod's alto and soprano saxophones, as on “Dance on a Cloud" (at twelve minutes, the longest piece on the album), and “Isetta Go," a grand march with waltz-time phrases.