Branches is a live recording of Evan Parker and Bill Nace in duet at Cafe OTO. Recorded on May 25, 2024, with Parker on soprano saxophone and Nace on a two-string Taishogoto, it was released as a split between Open Mouth Records and Otoroku on May 23, 2025.
Evan Parker, Bill Nace
Branches (Live at Cafe OTO)
Open Mouth Records, Otoroku
The sound of Parker on his saxophone, using his circular breathing throughout the piece (it seems so), is a match made in heaven with Nace’s Taishogoto. We can read on the Bandcamp page that “They had never played together before. They had never even met each other before…” But they certainly found each other that night.
The piece possesses exceptional cathartic beauty, with a power that seems to emerge from the mists of time, yet it feels more essential and compelling than any modernity. The 40-minute performance, built on loops and repetitions, forms a seamless whole that is impossible to pause, let alone stop. It is an experience that hypnotizes the mind into a marvelous trance, where the intensity of the performance fades behind the beauty of the perfect complementarity of sounds and the music shared by these two musicians.
Branches is an exceptional release.
Evan Parker
Evan Parker is a British saxophonist, born in 1944. He is particularly recognized for his extended techniques like circular breathing and multiphonics. Specifically, circular breathing is a technique that allows a wind instrument player, to produce a continuous sound without interruption by inhaling through the nose while simultaneously exhaling through the mouth. This enables the musician to play for extended periods without having to stop to take a breath.
Bill Nace
Bill Nace is an American experimental guitarist and visual artist from New Jersey, known for his innovative approach to the electric guitar. He frequently employs unconventional techniques, utilizing objects like bows, metal, wood, and glass bowls to produce a wide range of sounds.
The taishōgoto, also known as the Nagoya harp, is a Japanese stringed instrument developed in 1912 by musician Gorō Morita. It resembles a zither and is played by pressing keys that are connected to strings, similar to a typewriter mechanism: it is essentially a keyboard psalmodikon with multiple strings (from 6 to only 1). You can listen to its sound here.
The one played by Bill Nace on Branches is a two-string taishōgoto. It still maintains its signature bright, harp-like sound, but with a more focused, sharp quality due to the limited range:
Branches (Live at Cafe OTO)
- SIDE A 20:02
- SIDE B 20:09
Digital release: A/B (COMPLETE TRACK NO SIDE BREAK) 40:11
“It was one of those nights where art as a liberating force of spirit gifted the listeners with an offering of exaltation and joy. It was entirely mystical and mind blowing. A night of Total Music.”
–Thurston Moore, Bandcamp liner notes
Evan Parker: soprano saxophone; Bill Nace: 2 string Taishogoto
Split released between Open Mouth Records and Otoroku on May 23, 2025 / OM86 & OTO43