{"id":11555,"date":"2025-11-14T19:51:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T01:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=11555"},"modified":"2025-11-18T06:56:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T12:56:46","slug":"review-allemano-diptychs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/review-allemano-diptychs\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Lina Allemano Four\u2019s \u2018The Diptychs\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"p1\">Give the devil of algorithmic media its due for knowing things about you that you never suspected. Who knew, for instance, that Japanese woodworking videos were an obsession lying dormant in my mind, waiting to be activated? Even though I am hopeless with a tool in my hand\u2014or perhaps because of it\u2014I found these little three-act dramas irresistible. Blocks of wood are lovingly, patiently and imaginatively shaped, then glide together at the end, the fulfillment of an imaginative plan artfully executed. Lina Allemano has done something like that with <em>The Diptychs<\/em> (Lumo, 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"lyte-wrapper fourthree\" style=\"width:420px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_wPKiJV40i9k\"><div id=\"lyte_wPKiJV40i9k\" data-src=\"\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/wPKiJV40i9k\/hqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/wPKiJV40i9k\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/wPKiJV40i9k\/0.jpg?resize=420%2C295&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"YouTube video thumbnail\" width=\"420\" height=\"295\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:420px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">The trumpeter\u2019s latest is essentially a concept record as a series of three pairs of compositions with each pair a play of opposites. The opening \u201cPositive\u201d is a bouncy line that devolves into something like the unstructured free play that a group of children might invent on the spot. Its opposite party, \u201cNegative,\u201d announces itself with a dramatic, overture-like flourish and alternates a descending, thirty-second-note minor-key line with long tones, that eventually collapses into grinding, fog-bound gloom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cResist\u201d is a tone poem of Hegelian dialectics in microcosm, a pulsing, unison concert C sharp from Allemano\u2019s trumpet and Brodie West\u2019s alto saxophone against a vaguely martial second melody. The two eventually come together in uneasy concord. The theme is picked up in \u201cCoalesce,\u201d which, after a slow introduction over a triple-meter feel, gains in speed. It is a flywheel spinning up into busy, Raymond Scott-like chatter over Nick Fraser\u2019s brushes.&nbsp; It\u2019s compromise, not complete agreement, an illustration of the process, not the result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"lyte-wrapper fourthree\" style=\"width:420px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_galmz2wFFy8\"><div id=\"lyte_galmz2wFFy8\" data-src=\"\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/galmz2wFFy8\/hqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/galmz2wFFy8\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/galmz2wFFy8\/0.jpg?resize=420%2C295&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"YouTube video thumbnail\" width=\"420\" height=\"295\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:420px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">The final pair returns to a favorite subject of Allemano\u2019s: food. The Allemano Four released Vegetables in 2021, six\u2014that number again\u2014compositions from the greengrocer\u2019s shelves. This time, it\u2019s eggs, first \u201cScrambled,\u201d a slow piece that starts with bassist Andrew Downing\u2019s arco sawing. It is followed by \u201cOver Easy., a nearly ten minute piece that eats up almost a quarter of the album\u2019s run time. In sound and structure, it recalls Tim Berne\u2019s early bands with Herb Robertson. A six-note cycling figure is given a quick fry followed by a slow-cooked central passage. Once flipped, the band turns up the head and the egg sizzles and pops with Fraser\u2019s all-kit clatter. Order up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">If all this sounds overly intellectualized and determined, it\u2019s not. There\u2019s a freewheeling playfulness present in every moment, and this chordless quartet, one of the most venerable in Allemano\u2019s trans-Atlantic collection of ensembles, is the perfect vehicle for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"lyte-wrapper fourthree\" style=\"width:420px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_rMyleXP0JUI\"><div id=\"lyte_rMyleXP0JUI\" data-src=\"\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/rMyleXP0JUI\/hqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/rMyleXP0JUI\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/rMyleXP0JUI\/0.jpg?resize=420%2C295&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"YouTube video thumbnail\" width=\"420\" height=\"295\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:420px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Still, there\u2019s a special pleasure in encountering a recording that states its premise then delivers on it with clarity, coherence and honesty. It\u2019s the joy one finds in recalling an obscure word that completes a crossword puzzle. Or in selecting a wine and finding that it\u2019s the perfect complement to a great meal (vegetables, perhaps?). When the recording does so with wit and lightly worn intelligence, the pleasure is doubled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>\u2018The Diptychs\u2019 is out now on Lumo Records. It can be <a href=\"https:\/\/linaallemano.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-diptychs\">purchased on Bandcamp<\/a>. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Tracklist: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Positive; Negative; Resist; Coalesce; Scrambled; Over Easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Personnel:&nbsp; Lina Allemano (trumpet), Brodie West (saxophone), Andrew Downing (bass), Nick Fraser (drums).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Photo credit: Claire Harvie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Give the devil of algorithmic media its due for knowing things about you that you never suspected. Who knew, for instance, that Japanese woodworking videos were an obsession lying dormant in my mind, waiting to be activated? Even though I am hopeless with a tool in my hand\u2014or perhaps because of it\u2014I found these little [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":11557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":70,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Review: Lina Allemano\u2019s \u2018The Diptychs\u2019","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/img_2547.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peRkRR-30n","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11555"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11565,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11555\/revisions\/11565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}