gabby fluke-mogul and Lily Finnegan's "Throw It in the Sink"

I first heard violinist gabby fluke-mogul on their collaboration with saxophonist Ivo Perelman earlier this year. They've also recorded duets with saxophonist Dave Rempis, drummer Nava Dunkelman, and violist Joanna Mattrey, after studying with Fred Frith and Pauline Oliveros at Mills College and landing in NYC just in time for the COVID pandemic in 2020. 

There aren't many violin-drums duos out there, but fluke-mogul's collaboration with Chicago-based drummer Lily Glick Finnegan -- documented on their October release Throw It in the Sink on Sonic Transmissions -- would be unique in any case. Finnegan studied with Kris Davis, Terry Lyne Carrington, and Linda May Han Oh at Berklee's Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. She plays in Ken Vandemark's ensemble Edition Redux, and co-curates the Option Series at Chicago's Experimental Sound Studio. She's a remarkably mature young player. 

The first-time collaboration of these two musicians, documented on Throw It in the Sink, is an improvised gem. Rather than the explosions of energy that often occur in such meetings, the nine pieces here are cogent, focused, and dynamically varied. There's a surprising amount of blues in fluke-mogul's sound, especially when they vocalize (in the readings of the same text that open and close the album, juxtaposing a recalled intimate moment with militaristic percussion, and especially "On the Fringe," written by a college classmate of fluke-mogul's who committed suicide). At times, their aggressively bowed double-stops and harmonics sound like an electric guitar. Finnegan, whose background is in punk rock, is an attentive and responsive accompanist whose rhythmic creations give the pieces detailed vibrancy. 

One has to go all the way back to William Parker and Hamid Drake's 2001 outing, Piercing the Veil, to find a duo recording this engaging. On December 14, fluke-mogul will appear at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios as part of the third annual Molten Plains Fest, in a trio with guitarist Tom Carter and bassist Aaron Gonzalez.