Anker/Courvoisier/Mori

Thu., Jan. 29, 8 p.m., $10, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th St., 866-468-7619, arsnovaworkshop.com.

by Shaun Brady

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Published: Jan 28, 2009

EXPERIMENTAL/IMPROVISATION

Each track on Alien Huddle (Intakt) is named for a species of bird, from "Sparkling Sparrows" to "Ostrich War"; but as the album title suggests, the music contained within isn't so much an effort to replicate the calls of these birds as it is a gathering of a foreign species attempting, perhaps to talk back. The communication among Danish saxophonist Lotte Anker, Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and Tokyo-via-New York electronics artist Ikue Mori (aliens of another stripe, at least to one another) is like nature translated and synthesized — not just due to the literally synthetic sounds generated by Mori (pictured), but to the unusual pathways traveled by Anker's horn and the percussive chattering of Courvoisier's keys. If these three do indeed see with the fresh yet intelligent eyes of alien observers, it's the fact of their huddle that makes it so, the joining of three fluent speakers of separate languages able to meld their voices into a single expression.

Thu., Jan. 29, 8 p.m., $10, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th St., 866-468-7619, arsnovaworkshop.com.

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