Christine Abdelnour - Unprotected Sleep (2022)

Christine Abdnelnour and Andy Moor have explored the notion of hypnagogia or ‘unprotected sleep’ to drive their process for this improvised album, delving in their own experience and memories. Unprotected sleep is commonly defined as an altered state of consciousness that occurs beyond the proper or intended time of waking up, not sleeping in your own safe bed, or even sleeping without a blanket. Being slightly out of phase, one is vulnerable, fragile, but the mind is at the same time very fluid, ultra-associative with an extraordinary memory. In their music making Abdelnour (saxophone) and Moor (guitar) explore the possibilities of real and hallucination sounds and ranges that might come with deep dreaming.
One thinks of the necessary openness and intense acuity that are necessary tools for successful improvisation. And of the naked honesty that can make it touching and powerful. Unprotected Sleep is an imaginative dialogue between two idiosyncratic voices in experimental improvisation.