Searching for the Disappeared Hour marks the second collaboration for these two singular musicians. Their initial collaboration, 2017’s Crop Circles, was recorded after a single concert (at New York’s now-defunct Cornelia Street Café) and found them repurposing existing compositions for the duo context. By contrast, the music on Searching for the Disappeared Hour was composed expressly for the duo, taking stunning advantage of the chemistry and familiarity forged during tours of Europe and the States in the intervening years.
“I think this album is much more developed,” Courvoisier says. “When I wrote pieces for Mary, I really thought about all the possibilities of the guitar. And her music has pretty tonalities, great melodies and a very clear sense of harmony and melody, so I love to darken it.”
“We both have an affinity towards darkening things,” adds Halvorson, “which is great because you can start with a joyous melody and there's all kinds of room to mess with it. We're both really open to that. And Sylvie is great at adding harmonies and filling stuff in, so I was happy to leave space for her to do her thing, not only in the improvised sec- tions but also within the written parts.”

• PRESS ABOUT SEARCHING FOR THE DISAPPEARED HOUR
Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson are contemporary improvisers who approach ab- straction from two different angles: Courvoisier as a pianist at the bridge between free jazz and European classical music, and Halvorson as a deconstructive guitar improviser, strong- ly affiliated with (for lack of a better term) the Brooklyn jazz scene. Their second duo al- bum, ‘Searching for the Disappeared Hour,’ was a chance to mine the jazz canon for inspi- ration while finding ways to playfully disrupt each other’s style.
Giovanni Russonello, New York Times

Best recordings of 2021
Jerome Wilson, All About Jazz

Top jazz albums of 2021: “The simpatico is now utter and a wonder. Both are players in the New Jazz world who value strong writing and how it connects to improvisation that is not defined or bounded by sets of chord changes.”
Will Layman, PopMatters

Top 12 of 2021
Nate Chinen, NPRTop 10 jazz and improv recordings of 2021
Bill Meyer, The Wire/Magnet

★★★★ Courvoisier and Halvorson have a chemistry that brings out something new in both of them. The sounds they make here are both familiar and alien at the same time. This is a totally involving and, in its own warped way, beautiful session of music.
Jerome Wilson, All About Jazz

★★★★ 1⁄2 The synchronicity between these two move what is unapologetic experimental music into the realm of sheer musical beauty. They take turns heading to the musical edge, while the other holds the foundation. The result is always thoughtful, surprisingly accessi- ble and perhaps unexpectedly melodic.
Keith Black Winnipeg Free Press

This is a duo whose members, while like-minded musically, are different enough to surprise and entertain both the listener and each other.
Robert Iannapollo, New York City Jazz Record

On piano, nobody quite sounds like Sylvie Courvoisier, nor, on guitar, like Mary Halvorson. Their individual voices are distinctive, which is why there’s all kinds of intrigue when they come together in a recording studio.
Dave Sumner, Bandcamp

Courvoisier and Halvorson mine the jazz canon for inspiration while finding ways to playfully disrupt each other’s style.
Giovanni Russonello, New York Times