Drummer Bobby Previte and guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Knox Chandler are not household names to many, but these two gentlemen are musician’s musicians. Chandler’s career has allowed him to work with countless acts including Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Psychedelic Furs, R.E.M., and Golden Palominos. Bobby Previte has been a fixture of New York’s downtown scene for decades and lent his talents to the Lounge Lizards, Sonny Sharrock, Iggy Pop, and Tom Waits, among others. They have now come together to stretch their creative legs on a self-titled collaboration, Previte/Chandler, out this week via the Italian label Subsound.

The pieces they construct seem to nod at first towards ambient, but there’s too much going on for that designation to stick. Chandler creates both textures and melodies, often hiding the guitar’s identity with artfully sculpted effects. There are no synths on this album — every sound on the record originates from guitar, bass, and drums.

The opener, “White Horse,” starts with amorphous clouds of sound from Chandler, punctuated by powerful bursts of drums. Eventually, a steady beat commences and the guitar reveals itself while maintaining a shimmering, ethereal sound. A bass thumps out a steady ostinato underneath. Guitar lines dance around each other, each with its own identity established through different effects and tones.

“White Horse” provides a blueprint for the album that follows, oscillating between pure ambience and more beat-oriented material within a single piece. If “Moonburn” and “Hallow” reveal something more, it’s that Previte’s drum work is far more complex than the strict programmed rhythms one would normally find in this type of material. While far from confrontational, this music seeks engagement.

Previte’s drums often provide the true gravitational center of each piece. On “Lost Moon,” his hi-hats seem to be in conversation with the bass. He brings his toms in to provide an additional layer of information to the dialogue, and the guitar work, while gorgeous, takes center stage only out of convention. On “Tick” his drums provide the melodic underpinning through the tom-toms.

But let’s not be dismissive of Chandler’s work. His strange guitar alchemies, waves, and melodies he calls “sound ribbons” provide the seed from which each piece grows. It’s a fascinating blend of Robert Fripp‘s Frippertronics and David Torn‘s sonic explorations, best illustrated on 2007’s Prezens. At times, the guitar could be almost anything but, with Knox sounding like a one-man Tangerine Dream.

The highlight of the album is “Bottom Feeder.” Here the duo truly sidesteps the ambient genre and explores the sonic palette of the record in a much more immediate way. Previte’s drums are heavy, a free jazz take on an almost doom metal sound, while Knox’s guitar alternates between the ethereal and the visceral. It’s a sonic journey full of tension and discovery.

Previte/Chandler is not an easy record to define. The relationship to ambient music is certainly present, but the listening experience is far from passive. While best enjoyed through a good set of headphones, this music will not just fade into the background if you play it through speakers. The material is engaging and undoubtedly arresting if given its proper due.

—Todd Manning