Trio Scordatura Ergodos ER1**

The line-up of the Amsterdam-based Trio Scordatura would be unusual at the best of times – voice, viola and keyboard. But it's made even more unusual by the intentionally artless-sounding vocal production of Alfrun Schmid, the adapted viola of Elisabeth Smalt (adapted as in the microtonal instruments invented by Harry Partch), and the use of a MIDI electronic keyboard by Bob Gilmore. This debut CD (the first from Ergodos records and the first by Trio Scordatura) features works of an exploratory, experimental nature by seven Irish composers: Linda Buckley's Dubh, Judith Ring's Hush, Scott McLaughlin's Marx, Enda Bates's Invocation, Garrett Sholdice's Fliehen/Nehmen, Peter Moran's It is not true . . ., Benedict Schlepper-Connolly's Cyan. They share a slow, broody moodiness, and a sometimes navel-gazing awe at the sounds produced that's not always easy to share. Bates and Moran come closest, in very different ways, to reaching escape velocity. See ergodos.ie