Mabe Fratti and Bill Orcutt: Almost Waking review cellist and guitarist unite for tender harmonies and torrid tangles

Almost Waking unites Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti with US guitarist Bill Orcutt, connecting a current experimental star with a prolific noise-rock veteran. The album centers on conversational duets between cello and guitar, where overdriven string work and fragmented bow-scraping create voices rather than mere sounds. Forced & Forced & Forced matches Orcutt’s string-snapping plucking with agitated cello textures. Steps of the Sun brings tender harmonies and shared leadership through complex, sung-duet phrasing. Fratti’s vocals appear on two tracks, including a stately looping ballad and a more showy piece with a jangling guitar solo. Instrumentals show Fratti’s fit within Orcutt’s spidery world while reframing both artists in a lively, melodic context.

"The album centres on conversational duets between Fratti's cello and Orcutt's guitar. On the overdriven Forced & Forced & Forced, Orcutt's trademark string-snapping plucking is matched by Fratti's fragmented, agitated bow-scraping. Just as both players can wrestle with their instruments, they know how to make them feel like voices."

"On Steps of the Sun, the cello and guitar harmonise tenderly and take turns as lead, performed with the complex phrasing and dynamism of a sung duet. Fratti's soaring vocals appear on two tracks. El Inicio Es Cuestion de Suerte is a stately ballad set to a looping guitar melody, while Todo Puede Ser Error has more showmanship, featuring a jangling Orcutt solo."

"If the instrumentals reveal how naturally Fratti fits in Orcutt's spidery world — her lusher, warped art-pop shaped by the same fragmentation — these tracks prove his adversarial style can work in more melodic settings. While Almost Waking feels like an aside for Fratti and Orcutt, both are reframed in this wonderfully alive-sounding album."

"Orcutt reached out, and they started sharing files. While their friendship is new, Almost Waking reveals a deep kinship between these true originals. The artwork for Almost Waking."

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