Mute Duo Release A Taut Painterly Album For Pedal Steel And Drums

Since the release of their self-titled debut in 2017, Chicago’s Mute Duo—aka pedal steel guitarist Sam Wagster and drummer Skyler Rowe—have become one of the most versatile live acts in the city, performing and improvising in an array of configurations, including a quintet at the Empty Bottle’s Mirrored Series (curated by Rowe and devoted to improvised jazz and experimental music) and a thunderous quasi-orchestral octet that opened for Grouper at Bohemian National Cemetery. The painterly, panoramic songs on their new Lapse in Passage (which drops on Friday, March 20, via American Dreams Records) could soundtrack a walk through a beautiful but foreboding desert. On Thursday, March 19, they play a double release party at Constellation with Akosuen, aka multi-instrumentalist Billie Howard, who has a new EP called In Flux.

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