Thomas Lehn has radically reclaimed the synthesizer for spontaneity. Exploiting the tendency of analogue models of the instrument to betray reasonable expectations, he runs tightropes between control and accident. His collaborators are liable to find themselves on untried ground, dependent upon sharp reflexes and tangential intuitions. Saxophonist John Butcher, tempered in the unorthodox, has the technical cunning and listening skills to meet the challenge Lehn poses. This well-matched pair has met previously, in a quartet with drummer Paul Lovens and cellist Alfred Zimmerlln, and in duet on Butcher's CD "Music On Seven Occasions" (Meniscus).

The third party on "Thermal" ls Scottish guitarist Andy Moor. a member since 1990 of anarchistic Dutch rockers The Ex and a founder of Aegean-klezmer hybrid Kletka Red. Moor's mid-90s duets with fellow Ex guitarist Tenle Ex disclosed their shared taste for free improvising. Terrle Ex has more recently explored improvisation further with hardcore personnel such as drummer Han Bennink and saxophonist Ab Baars. Meanwhile Moor has investigated the electronics field, establishing a notable improvising alliance with real-time sampler Kaffe Matthews With Lehn and Butcher, Moor puts ln a remarkable performance, pulling no punches with his personal take on electric guitar and navigating a potentially hazardous improvising situation with such confidence that he often seems to be steering. There's a spine of rock attitude ln his playing but Moor flexes and inflects it to meet an undefined condition. Lehn and Butcher fare well in this encounter too, bending, extending and adapting what they do without compromising essentials.

"Thermal" meshes horizons and welds disparate trajectories. lt's a highly persuasive point of access to the work of all three musicians.