CD review: Mary Lorson and Billy Coté, Piano Creeps

In the guise of critics' darlings Madder Rose, Mary Lorson and Billy Coté were major players on the introspective early 1990s New York scene, which has yielded a long-term licence for self-indulgence. To that end, Piano Creeps has them taking time out from the solo ventures Saint Low and Jazz Cannon to drift through 12 prettily innocuous instrumentals. The emphasis is on freeform melancholy: Lorson's fragile piano and Coté's slide guitar bob along wispily, unhindered by structural imperatives, and often adding up to a lot of nothing. It's the old "imaginary film score" business, which relies on hushed atmospherics to build a mood, but more usually melts into the wallpaper.

Piano Creeps works best when violinist Joe Myers and drummer Matt Saccucci Morano stick their oar in; without them, songs are lullabye-pretty, but unmemorable. Best bets are See the Stars, featuring Lorson's only vocal - she sounds semi-conscious, but lifts what would otherwise be ethereal space-dust - and the subtly surging Near End Theme, starring Coté in country mode. Let's hope they've got it out of their system now.