First vinyl offering by this fine Barcelona improv trio featuring Mark Cunningham (trumpet), Pablo Volt (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Andreu Serra (many forms of strings). C/V/S’s two previous cassettes include 2022’s Ad Hoc (FTRC392. And the work on Introspective Movement is as brilliant as always.

While there’s much utilization of effects, pedals and delays, the music here is definitely in the jazz realm. Mark’s floating clouds of trumpet capture the futuristic Chet Baker vibe he so often explores, but Pablo’s approach to trumpet and flugelhorn puts me in mind of the more brambly work of the Italian brass master, Enrico Rava. Andreu is a multi-instrumentalist, but here he is focused on guitars and their cousins, playing in an abstractly expressive mode that can recall the most reflective passages created by Keith Rowe. Which is not to imply that C/V/S’s music is in any way mimetic .

Expatriated to Barcelona for 35 years, Mark has developed the habit of making music with some of the best musicians that city’s underground has produced. His many projects can seem related insomuch as they usually rely on sophisticated textural juxtapositions rather than high energy blasts to create their frisson, and so it is with C/V/S. The dozen pocket-sized compositions on Introspective Movement rarely combine elements in jarring ways, although the pieces can be dizzyingly unbalanced at times. This results from the way the trio presents multiple points of melodic/sonic focus, emphasizing the multiplicity of equally weighted individual voices, rather than the smoosh of purely collective aktion. It’s a great way to do things, and allows the three to introduce some very weird electronic elements without disturbing the music’s beautiful sonance.

The results here are as fucking boss as anything Mark has done yet. And that is saying something.

–Byron Coley, 2026

Cunningham / Volt / Serra

Releases

Introspective Movement, Nonchalant Steps