Dark Currents is the third full-length recording by Splinter Reeds, the West Coast’s premier reed quintet, featuring Kyle Bruckmann (English horn), Bill Kalinkos (clarinet), Nicki Roman (saxophone), Jeff Anderle (bass clarinet), and Dana Jessen (bassoon). The album opens with Michael Gordon’s majestic Tall Grass, which cascades into undulating waves of melody, spreading outward on a moody canvas that surges with tension and emotion. By contrast, Paula Matthusen’s Antenna Studies combines ambient soundscapes and found sounds; the musicians quietly tease their instruments with breath control and percussive pad strikes as a sombre melodic figure gradually begins to take shape. Taken together, these two 20-minute performances propel the listener forward on an ever-changing journey, by turns hypnotic, ecstatic, surreal, and spooky, that tests the preconceived boundaries of modern chamber music.