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 synthesiser, 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.”
Additionally, one of the key (and rarest) elements in what Thomson calls the “quirky kaleidoscopy of [Cameron’s] instrumentation” here was a gift from Kubota. The Crackle Synthesiser is a deluxe variation on the more common STEIM Cracklebox/ Kraakdoos where the Cracklebox’s metal contacts (which actually place the variability of the human body within its circuitry) are augmented with many additional controls.
Cameron is noted for her unusual sonics in both her written-out music and her improvisational practice. Thomson’s commendable palette on the trombone makes him an ideal co-conspirator, and their chemistry is only compounded by their mutual willingness to inhabit the restless, engrossing quasi-stasis unfurled here. Platanus is a quietly potent recording that doesn’t so much defy conventions as slide between them.
photo Jean-Martin
Allison Cameron has been a fixture in the Canadian experimental music landscape since the mid-1980’s. An innovative composer, performer, and sound artist, her work spans chamber music of a rich array of styles and instrumentations to improvisation. Her carefully crafted scores have been performed by the likes of Arraymusic, Eve Egoyan, Bang on Can, Apartment House, Bozzini Quartet, Ensemble Supermusique, Lori Freedman, and other key interpreters. Meanwhile, her idiosyncratic and captivating solo performances blend the sounds of various acoustic instruments, found objects, toys, consumer electronics and feld recordings to produce liminal textural spaces that both demand and interrogate the listener’s attention. Cameron’s work has been released by such notable imprints as Experimental Intermedia, Redshift, Rat-drifting, and on the celebrated English label Another Timbre. Two of said albums have been included in the Wire’s year-end coverage, Rewind.
Scott Thomson is a trombonist and composer whose commitment to open improvisation is at the core of his work. He has performed and recorded his songs on texts by others for singer and dance artist Susanna Hood in many contexts, some involving her choreography. As a producer, Scott co-led the Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto, the AIMToronto Orchestra (to work with Anthony Braxton), and the Montreal-Toronto Art Orchestra (to work with Roscoe Mitchell); and founded the Toronto studio venue, Somewhere There. He has made site-specifc compositions for mobile musicians and audiences in unconventional contexts including, notably, the National Gallery of Canada and the Jardin botanique de Montréal. Scott was Artistic and General Director of the Guelph Jazz Festival 2017-23, and is currently Artistic and General Director of FIMAV in Victoriaville, Quebec. He lives in Montreal.
Founded in 1991, DAME (Distribution Ambiances Magnetiques Et cetera.) has remained an essential node within in the global experimental music network since its inception, operating as a dissemination/ resource hub for a group of labels that includes Ambiances Magnétiques, Quatuor Bozzini’s Collection QB, FIMAV’s Les disques Victo, Tour de bras, and more. These diverse imprints document some of the most vibrant and imaginative music coming out of Québec, Canada, and beyond.
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title: ALLISON CAMERON & SCOTT THOMSON – Platanus
label: AMBIANCES MAGNÉTIQUES AM 287 (CD/DL)
tracks:
1 Taproot (18.36)
2 Bark (15.35)
3 Limbing (24.09)
line up:
Allison Cameron — crackle synthesizer, keyboards, tapes
Scott Thomson — trombone
Music Allison Cameron, Scott Thomson 2024 • Recorded at The Farm, Toronto
(ON) 2024.12.22 • Sound Engineer, Mixing, Mastering Jean Martin, The Farm • Liner notes Scott Thomson • French translation Yves Charuest • Design Scott Thomson, Marie-Pierre Morin • Producers Allison Cameron, Scott Thomson • Executive Production DAME • Dedicated to the memory of Nobuo Kubota