For those unaware, Montréal’s Ambiances Magnétiques label, one of many imprints distributed by the venerable DAME is announcing two exciting new releases due out on April 17th, 2026 on CD and digital formats.

First of them, the near-hour’s worth of music, PLATANUS, contained on the first duo recording from multifaceted artists Scott Thomson (trombone) and Allison Cameron (crackle synthesizer, keyboards, tapes) pulls listeners into a uniquely disorienting topography.

Their exchanges are neither deliberate and delicate nor assertively gestural and mostly evade typical markers of directionality. Instead, Thomson and Cameron collectively paint a confounding scenery — a place that feels perched precariously on the cusp between dreaming and wakefulness. Within this wobbly frame, their interplay variously foats, wafts, gurgles, and drifts, a curious assortment of textures and murky hues. It leaves an indelible impression yet without actively articulating or resisting form.

Platanus is dedicated to the memory of Nobuo Kubota, the extraordinary Canadian improviser and intermedia artist who passed away in September of 2025 at the age of 93. Kubota’s connection to the strange and inventive music-making that unfolds here may be indirect but it’s also substantial. In the liner notes, Thomson recalls a 2009 residency that Cameron held at his erstwhile Toronto venue Somewhere There, where “Allison proposed a trio with me and the inspiring polymath, Nobuo Kubota, whose syllable-spitting vocals almost demanded to be called shamanic. It was an eye-opening experience, one of many that I lived during those heady, music-drenched days.”

1. Taproot (18:36)
2. Bark (15:35)
3. Limbing (24:09)

Cameron, who has been a fixture in the Canadian experimental music landscape since the mid-1980’s, and Thomson, a trombonist and composer whose commitment to open improvisation is at the core of his work, open their new collective work on the atmospherically animatic, 18 minute Taproot and then brings us the robustly angled, yet never jagged 15 minute Bark, the incredible set coming to a close on the more soulful, floative, yet at times irregular, supple yet craggy even 24 minute Limbing.

Musicians:
Allison Cameron — crackle synthesizer, keyboards, tapes
Scott Thomson — trombone

Official Spotify Purchase Link

Official Allison Cameron Website

Official Scott Thomson Website