Marks, Nandayapa, Henderson: Campechanos (iiii/bandcamp)

In a striking cover photo by Jeff Henderson taken in the Palacio de la Escuela de Medicine/School of Medicine Museum in Mexico City comes this bristling, muscular and energetic collaboration between Aotearoa New Zealand musicians and artists from Mexico.

Here is Henderson on alto sax, vocals and a duck caller with guitarist/tuba player Misha Marks and drummer Gustavo Nandayapa.

The first of these freely improvised performances Oreja (the ear in Spanish) is an explosive and confrontational piece skillfully under-pinned by Marks' serrated guitar where Henderson's use of the duck caller at times sounds like a child pleading for help.

It is that raw, abrasive and tightly coiled.

Ojo (the eye) which follows opens as a more spacious and less argumentative entry point however it is a piece where the players incrementally ascend into more aggressive interplay over the 12 minutes. It's a standout for its subtle momentum and seemingly intuitive rapport between the three.

Sesos (the brain) is very much an internal journey of space and subtle sounds which perhaps best reflects the album's title (loosely meaning affable or generous, giving). It almost suggests the rushes of blood or snapping synapses, and just after the midpoint the chaos of competing thoughts, inputs and sensory assaults.

The final piece Lengua (language) is initially, as the title suggests, something close to a dialogue between Marks on tuba and Henderson's alto which seems to have a lot to say for itself over the interjections of the others.

It's actually quite amusing and would work well with a silently running Donald Duck cartoon from the Forties when he gets irritable.

As we sometimes say, this isn't music for everyone but here it is: improvisation in its purest form and a bridge between musicians of very different cultures.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here, the limited edition vinyl is still available