For Michael Hannahs

Released as a limited-edition CDR by the VHF label, For Michael Hannas collects a variety of sessions from the Pelt collective, showing the group’s penchant for worldwide musical exploration and innovation. That the opening acoustic track, “Twin Sisters,” at once sounds like a bluegrass jam and a wedding celebration from the Indus river valley is only appropriate, a deft capturing the band’s easy and open-minded combination of styles. Performances range from solo instrumental snippets to full-band efforts, making For Michael Hannas a bit of a catchall but still one sure to be of interest to anyone already captivated by the band’s work. That the band doesn’t need electricity to make an impact can be heard with songs like the lengthy “Kif,” which features plenty of unplugged (or barely plugged, if a couple of feedback barks are any indication) stringed instruments and keyboards, leading into the wheezing organ moans and random notes of “Other Particles.” “Techeod,” which didn’t feature on the album of the same name (though, at ten minutes, it feels like it could be), is a miniature multi-part epic, a combined series of drone overdubs and jams featuring the occasional wordless vocal. It, along with songs like “Transposed Roads” and the concluding “Goodwin’s Ferry Sunrise,” a striking 20-minute effort that never seems too long, feel the most like typical Pelt numbers on the album, but that makes the evident variety all the more interesting. – Ned Raggett