Dorji’s solo work is some of the most adventurous and striking guitar picks, clicks, and sticks, but when he collaborates with someone, I find Dorji is at his most free. No matter the work, he’s always pushing further away from his last idea, yet that other mind and body unleashes something buried deeply in his soul that otherwise seems reserved in his solo work. Which is why this documentation of his collaboration with Tyler Damon is so outside either’s realm; Dorji also pulling something new and exciting from Damon. Both Will Escape draws a lot from similarly minded concepts when Chris Corsano links up with (just about) anybody willing to feel him out. The album starts with both Dorji and Damon doing just that, trying simple ideas in sound and architecture, but the results don’t feel as if they are fumbling through a chance encounter. Sometimes the warm-ups and tuning sessions are where the most exciting ideas sprout, and that’s exactly what happens with Both Will Escape. Glossing over those beginning explorations means missing out on the essential bits that make this album go. As Dorji settles in and begins to twist his guitar into a steely sledgehammer, and Damon begins to apply a similar blunt force to his percussive instruments. They do this not through one particular sound study; the rhythm and influence jumps from song to song, keeping both nimble and on edge. Neither wants to drop the ball, so the results are an album’s worth of fantastic ideas that can’t settle down. Each brings its own mood and setting; a very Prokofiev feeling.
More about: Tashi Dorji, Tyler Damon
