Two decades separate Prezens from its ECM predecessor, cloud about mercury, but the wait was worth it in the details. For this album, guitarist David Torn recorded a dozen hours of free improvisation with altoist Tim Berne, keyboardist Craig Taborn, and drummer Tom Rainey before reworking his favorite snippets and passages into what we have here. Toeing the line between ambient and grunge, but always with the listener in mind, he constructs a space that can almost be called “beautiful.” And while you may not find your foot tapping at any point, escapism extends its hand at every turn.