Hermon Mehari and Alessandro Lanzoni - Arc Fiction

The songs on Arc Fiction often musically blur the lines between what is written and what is not. For the listener, what differentiates the free improvisation from the preconceived compositions is often impossible to distinguish. This is intentional, but not in an overtly “blinding” manner: the composed elements serve as points of stable ground in the midst of all the looser, more spontaneous structures.

The beauty comes from just how much the improvised moments feel like compositions, how they, too, have intent, melodies, semblances of form, grooves established, clear beginnings and ends, etc. Lanzoni and Mehari  follow the creative rules of child’s play–no limits, everything is game!—while always listening intently to each other, exchanging and overlaying, allowing each to take the lead when appropriate. The listener participates in the adventure, following the thread of each story as the music drives forever forward, gaining momentum as it goes.