Mind Maintenance is the new duo consisting of Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society) and Chad Taylor (Chicago Underground Duo, Chad Taylor Trio). They have released their first self-titled album which is out now via Drag City. According to the press release, The percussive qualities of the guimbri and the mbira, so raw and unadorned individually, form with their shared resonance a soothing, sonorous whole. It’s not about world music, it’s not about jazz. It’s about mind maintenance.
The songs of Mind Maintenance exist in a zone somewhere between composition and improv. Based in melodies that unspool over time, they benefit from Chad and Joshua’s intimately enmeshed sensibility and the intensity with which they listen to each other. Chad and Joshua have been playing together forever — or, if you need to think of it more tangibly, since around 1994. Based on our research, the pairing of guimbri and mbira is more than unusual — it appears to be without precedent! This is incredible if it’s true, but more important to the music of Mind Maintenance is the shared ground of inspiration that both instruments occupy.
Check the full streaming below.