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Chris Corsano and Heather Leigh Murray

Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh
Sunday March 1 2009
4 stars
Something remarkable happens mid-way through this duo between drummer Chris Corsano and pedal steel guitarist and vocal siren Heather Leigh Murray. For the first half of the set the pair pound at their instruments with a driving ferocity that threatens at moments to spill over into clatter, only to be ballasted by Corsano’s precision. Then, at some pre-ordained moment, there’s a silence which first suggests things have stormed their way to a logical conclusion. As both parties hold the moment for what feels, following such extremes, like several minutes of rapt concentration, it offers the most pregnant of pauses to counterpoint what’s gone before.

This is likely to be the last we see of Corsano for some time, as this most restless of artists and some time Bjork tour drummer is returning Stateside following his time as an Edinburgh resident. This duet with fellow American émigré Leigh Murray was a fittingly abrasive way to say goodbye. As the pair eventually start up again following their hiatus, the rolling thunder that follows rides fearlessly into a million sunsets.

The List, March 2009

ends

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