On Repeat: Akinmusire / Halvorson, Paperclip Minimiser, Ambient Modular

On Sundays I try to at least quickly note some of my favorite listening from the week prior — things I would later regret having not written about in more depth, so better to share here briefly than not at all.

▰ New collaboration between trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and guitarist Mary Halvorson, Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings, gets a preview with the forthcoming (June 12, 2026) album’s fourth track (of nine), appropriately title “Soundcheck.” It’s especially exciting because it appears (check around 25 seconds in) to evidence Akinmusire employing electronics to layer his instrument and, soon after, to develop foundational pads.

An advance note from the releasing label, Nonesuch, confirms this:

Though Halvorson regularly uses effects pedals on her guitar, Akinmusire’s use of one on Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings is new. Having recently gotten an updated model of the Line 6, Halvorson was passing her old ones along to friends. “Ambrose was interested in trying a Line Six. I gave him one five minutes before the rehearsal and was amazed how quickly he was able to do incredible shit on it … in literally five minutes,” she says.

“But I’ve been watching you, I’ve been watching Bill [Frisell] and other people use it for a long time,” Akinmusire says. “I approached it as if it were its own musician. I played and it would process the sound and then I would choose to react to that or not.

▰ Super dessicated minimal dub techno from Paperclip Minimiser, aka John Howes. The embed isn’t working so get the set, titled II, at Bandcamp.

▰ The YouTube account Ambient Modular has been uploading solid 15-minute sessions, largely with the same set-up, by appearances, providing a glimpse into the variety a single system is capable of. The streams happen daily starting, per the channel’s information, at “00:00 AM UTC (9:00 PM JST).”