The Carver Trio

Broken Sleep

The Carver Trio is: Luke Goss (accordion), Dylan Fowler (acoustic guitar and mandocello), Nathan Riki Thomson (double bass and flute). The music is tender, delicate and lyrical, as well as passionate, intense and rhythmically dynamic. I

t explores the energy and rhythm of european folk; the harmonies and improvisation of jazz; the structure and texture of classical music; and the immediacy of popular forms.

Reviews for Broken Sleep

Luke Carver Goss is a composer who creates big worlds of sound with small forces. Witness his intimate and cinematic music for poet Ian McMillan's band. The Carver Trio features Goss's accordion plus multi-instrumentalists Dylan Fowler and Nathan Riki Thomson, and thanks to the quality of the arrangements and playing, the sound they make is rich, varied and rewards repeated listening. There are echoes of tango (The Ruins), folk (Rose in June), Balkan dance (Spin) and four pieces for the Tanzanian Filimbi, improvised by Thomson. Anyone who enjoys Egberto Gismonti, Robin Williamson or Don Cherry will warm to this generous helping of British music at its most ingenious.

John L Walters, The Guardian **** (Four stars)

Listening to Broken Sleep , the debut release from Britain's Carver Trio, one experiences a comforting sheath of sound, ripe with originality and textural warmth. The trio consists of accordionist Luke Carver Goss, guitarist Dylan Fowler and bassist Nathan Riki Thomson. All three musicians take a less-is-more approach, utilizing the group's stripped-down instrumentation to emphasize tender lyricism and rhythmic drive.

The bulk of the disc, a mix of studio and live performances, consists of Goss' original compositions, featuring an accordion lead over lush nylon-string guitar comping and bottom-heavy bass lines. Covering a wide range of emotion, the disc moves from up-beat pleasantries ("Simone"), to pensive wandering ("Song," "The Ruins") to free-form improv ("Six Passages"). A simplified pop/folk vibe can be heard on "Spin (for Lily)" and "Wagogo/Rose in June," showcasing Goss' endearing vocalizing.

A highlight of the recording is a set of four improvisations titled "Breathe," featuring Thomson doubling on the Filimbi, an African flute from the Wagogo people of central Tanzania. Thomson manipulates the instrument's eerie tone for an emotive and captivating effect.

Fowler plays with a sensitive understanding of accompaniment throughout and executes patient solo turns. The guitarist demonstrates dazzling flamenco technique on "Virsi/Dawns Timo."

Broken Sleep is an impressive debut full of delicate, convincing musical ideas. Carver Trio is an ensemble worthy of considerable attention.

John Barron, AllAboutJazz.com

Here in the UK, roughly once a year, an album emerges from the cross-genre margins with enough novelty appeal to attract a mainstream audience and enough integrity to interest jazz listeners. Last year it was the Portico Quartet's Knee Deep In The North Sea (The Vortex, 2007), whose novelty appeal came with the inclusion in the line-up of two hangs (Swiss-born offspring of a Balinese gamelan gong and a Chinese cooking wok), and whose depth was provided by the quality of composition and improvisation. This year it could be the Carver Trio's Broken Sleep .

The novelty this time lies not so much in the instrumentation—although Nathan Riki's Tanzanian filimbi flute, heard unaccompanied on the four "Breathe" tracks, is hardly standard fare—but in the manner the accordion is played by Luke Carver Goss. Forget the usual either/or of tango-inspired melancholy/Balkan bacchanalia; Goss's default groove is a mellifluous, soothing balm which instils a feeling of calm and contentment. It's also rich in surprise and musicality, light years away from the bland noodling of ambient music (which through a closed door, while you're cooking dinner perhaps, some of it might superficially resemble).

Unveiled in 2005 at the Manchester Jazz Festival, at which three of the tracks here were recorded, Goss, Riki, who is mostly heard on double bass, and guitarist/mandocellist Dylan Fowler present a sonorous blend of jazz and British and European folk and chamber musics (all but two of the tunes are originals) and lyrical improvisation. Goss' "Broken Sleep," "Simone," and "Song" are perfect little masterpieces of romance and happiness and with other tunes in similar vein define the album.

But as befits the album's title, the mood gets darker on occasion, and quite chillingly so on the collaboratively written "Six Passages" and "Lullaby." Inspired by memories of a French crossroads at night-time, "Six Passages" is fitfully as spooky as the fabled crossroads at which guitarist Robert Johnson is said to have made a pact with the devil; it sends shivers up the spine. "Lullaby," which features some compelling Wes Mongomery-ish guitar from Dylan, is, that aside, more likely to conjure wraiths than the sandman. Perhaps only the straight-ahead folk reading of the traditional "Rose In June," a song popularised by the singer June Tabor, offers undiluted pastoral bliss.

The bleaker moments provide contrast and astringency to Broken Sleep 's general vibe, but powerful as they are, don't subvert it. Here is a masterly evocation of the peaceful side of life, a restoring antidote to angst.

Chris May AllAboutJazz.com