Knowing that Lost and Found is the first album released by the duo Blackwood comes as a big surprise. Comprised of the industry veterans of pianist Peter-Anthony Togni and bass clarinetist Jeff Reilly, the musical chemistry on display here feels too enchanting for it to be the first album of this project. The Halifax pair have dove deep into their collective experience as musicians and composers, and the treasure they have emerged with is nothing short of magical.
Lost and Found is, like its namesake, comprised of many varying items and concepts. From the feelings towards newly born children and grandchildren to those of our natural world, from the icons of jazz to medieval plainchant. Where Blackwood drew inspiration from is vast, specific, and oddly incongruous on paper. Yet Togni’s keys and Reilly’s bass clarinet channel a distinctly unified experience across these emotional and intellectual terrains, bringing it all together in their unique form of ambient modern classical.
Both a cerebral and emotional experience, the first feeling that arises out of the compositions and performance by Blackwood are that of a long journey. The particular voice of the bass clarinet easily brings to mind thoughts of whimsy, but here we are entreated to something much more ruminative and weighty. From the very opening of title track “Lost and Found”, there is a balance between the ringing of the piano and the croon of the clarinet, and between the dichotomy of the main cycle’s bounce between gentle invitation and subtly dissonant tension. A representation of the paradox of parenthood and the changes of that relationship, it’s a beautifully evocative entrance.
From here we move to such transportive tracks that take the listener from spiralling caverns to longing vistas. “Ave Verum” explores the growling lows of Reilly’s range and descends into quizzical depths. “Uncountable” creates expansive space through the placement of Togni’s meticulous piano work, a feat that is enticingly and regularly balanced across the album against the intimate sounds of clarinet keys clacking and soft breaths entering the space. There is also a striking amount of free-form, unrepeated phrases- most notable in the chaos of “Suddenly, SNOW”—that make Lost and Found feel more like instruments recounting a long and sordid tale than presenting a tune to entertain. It’s a masterful use of space, range, and time that shows just how tuned in this duo is.
It would be negligent to not mention Blackwood’s take on Miles Davis’ classic “Blue in Green”, a surprising but incredibly effective addition to the album. It’s transformational in approach but maintains the dreamy, romantic heart of jazz that the original brandishes. And the homey longing it emanates is the perfect halfway point till we eventually reach the home of “Welcome”. By far the warmest and most intimate of the tracks, it feels full of nurturing care. The ideas of parental love and connection that started in a place of deep-seated contrast now find themselves flourishing at the end of a long journey, bringing us to a place of blissful rest.
Blackwood has done an impressive job at melding such strong feelings of cerebral exploration with ones of emotional warmth. Lost and Found verges on the edge of shadows thoroughly, and in doing so shows us so much light. While there are gloom and trepidation conjured in the album’s dramatic dynamics, it is acutely purposeful. The greatest of journeys step soundly into the unknown and unpredictable, and Togni and Reilly have done just that through this bewitching endeavour.