Martin Archer & Claire McAllister

I’ve been looking forward to this album for sometime, an ambitious collaboration from two artists who I’m fortunate to say are both colleagues and friends. I stumbled upon Claire McAllister’s music when she posted some of her work here. After my enthusiastic response she showed up at one of my own gigs and I subsequently was blessed to find myself playing her beautiful songs as part of her trio. Martin Archer is both a friend and bandmate (in Hi Res Heart) and is unlike any other musician I know. The breadth of his listening, and his ability to bring all that knowledge into play in a creative context is very special. Moreover, his ability to take improvised music and then shape it, augment it, expand it, in the studio creating large scale meaningful structures is unparalleled I think, especially as the improvised elements never feel in any way neutered or reduced. This was something that made his series of collaborations with Julie Tippetts some of my favourite recordings of recent times.

Mast Year is a triumph I think. A concept album that has taught me stuff about trees that I didn’t know. The soundworld is incredibly rich, the musical reference points hugely diverse, and yet it feels completely natural, organic and integrated. Building on improvisations from Jan Todd, Yvonna Magda, Laura Cole and more, along with music from Radio Massacre International and Nick Robinson, Archer builds a music that feels fresh, unique and utterly compelling as it draws on so much. Woodwind lines in Still Beating put me in mind of Britten, the title track is all intoxicating, pulsing synths, overlayed with a choir, guitars, mellotrons and more. Jan Todd’s contributions are clearly fundamental across the album, and spellbindingly beautiful. The language of ancient folk music merges with textures and harmony redolent of the sixties classical avant garde and you don’t bat an eyelid, it feels so right and inevitable. Fall, track 5 is a particular favourite. Laura Cole creating a beautiful texture full of space and possibilities inside a piano, before extraordinary processed harp, violin and more lead into a fabulous trumpet solo from Graham South which seems to link seventies Miles with Kenny Wheeler. Over this Claire McCallister weaves her thread of exquisite melody, and beautiful lyrics. Claire, as a singer has an understated yet powerful voice that gets right under the skin. Every note, every gesture, and every word, is made to count. She is very special, both as composer, lyricist, and performer. Listen to the point in Fall where all the instruments melt away leaving her singing alone – it’s a magical moment. But then this album is full of magical moments – The interplay between Archer’s clarinets and Richard Jackson’s percussion later in the same piece is another.

Mast Year is a masterpiece , an amazing achievement for both Martin and Claire and the wonderful cast of musicians they assembled to realise their vision. – Martin Pyne, BANDCAMP UK JAZZ & IMPROVISED MUSIC

For the latest release in Martin Archer‘s busy schedule he has taken a slightly different approach, inviting poet and lyricist Claire McAllister to deliver a selection of words and melodies that were inspired by Peter Wohlleben‘s book The Secret Life Of Trees.

A fascinating read in its own right, the book has inspired both Claire and Martin to push deep into the heart of the forest, taking with them a whole host of Discus regulars. For some of the tracks, Jan Todd and Yvonne Magda have conjured up musical improvisations, while Radio Massacre International were also involved taking things in unexpectedly dramatic directions, their sound surprisingly full for a quartet and a fascinating addition to the already complex soundscapes.

The simmering intro allows Claire to unfurl her voice, its pure approachability the perfect vehicle for the mantra-like message. The sense of discovery and need for questioning is there from the outset. Electric piano is dappled like sunlight across the percussive awakening that ushers in the other players, their measured progress overseen by the drifting vocals. The album is a series of slow-moving pieces that reflect the kind of progress that trees make and the kind of sensations that being alone in the woods may cause.

Some sections are more abstract, but there is that sense of constant movement that one has when surrounded by trees; a faint rustle, the creak of boughs. Life is happening all around you, but out of sight and so surreptitious as to be beyond our comprehension. A tumble of percussion, the owl-like blurt of horns; mysterious furtive sounds that happen just out of reach, the canopy keeping them in and causing a sense of repetition.

Claire’s voice can be a warm but heartbroken ache, the atmosphere hinting at tension as if awaiting something. The shiver of Jan’s harp accompanies the voice, but offers little respite; and the spare, stealthy sound that the group generates is a surprise considering how many players there are. They add just enough, but still leave space for the listener to conjure up their own imagery; although when the choir arrives, they bring a strength and repetitive clamour that is harsher and more modern. They veer and rail, repeating and enforcing, drawing strength from below, a sense of constant replenishment out of the sight of prying eyes.

Claire and harp move away from this electrical insistence and follow a long-form dream. They meander, voices constantly appearing and reflecting in the halflight, filtered through percussion, clarinet and sleepy trumpet. It bides its time in surreptitious movement; a many-leaved thing fluttering and floating in relative tranquility. The choir is kind of opposed to this and its momentum-filled waves are insistent and force the listener’s attention, the dichotomy between the two very much the embodiment of give and take.
Towards the end, a folk inflection slows things down and they become slinkier and more reflective, as if taking stock once the dust has settled, a sense of return slightly disturbed by a turbulent clarinet. The conclusion of the album is guitar-based and holds a warmth and familiarity, as if the cycle is ready to start again. It is nice to finally hear Claire’s voice shorn of all trickery and you sense there is some closure but not entirely.

As a suite, Mast Year is a pure delight and so wide-ranging, with Martin’s ability at arranging as well as writing for choir and group proven to be a natural progression; but with such adept musical assistance as given by the group, it fits like a hand in a glove. The album gives up more with every listen and is a worthy addition to the Discus canon. -Mr Olivetti, FREQ https://freq.org.uk/reviews/archer-mcallister-mast/

For those who don’t know, ‘mast’ is a word not just for those things that stick up on boats and hilltops, but for the fruit of forest trees and shrubs (acorns, other nuts, raspberries, etc.) A ‘mast year’ is one in which a forest produces an abundance of mast. It’s an evolutionary tactic: mast is a critical food source for many animals and so, every few years, the trees and shrubs in a forest massively overproduce it in order to ensure that some seeds remain uneaten and germinate. It’s the sort of natural process that draws attention to the fact there’s a lot more going on in the silent, slow-growing plant world than meets the eye.

I’ve listened to the album Mast Year a few times now and am still trying to get my head round it: it has the feeling of a dense forest in which you’ll make discoveries each time you wander through it (from the album notes, it’s clear it’s creators are aware of its forest-like qualities, too). Deep sounds evoke shadows and lingering electronic textures (the work, I’m guessing of Jan Todd) create an impression of imperceptible growth, while restless instrumental activity creates the impression of life in the forest going on, out of sight but in earshot. It’s not a difficult impression to create, but here it’s done particularly well. And the music has originality and substance, absorbing and co-opting a range of influences. Genre-fluidity is often a hallmark of projects Martin Archer gets involved in: ‘Stripped’ (a track I particularly liked) inhabits a world that has its roots in modern jazz but which owes an equal debt to modern classical. At other times, one might be reminded of Tangerine Dream (Berlin School music gets a mention in the album notes). Add to this the precise yet poetic, jazz-rooted musical world of Archer’s collaborator, vocalist and composer Claire McAllister, and finding a label for the wide-ranging eclecticism of the music you’re listening to no longer seems to matter! (Discus provide the option of buying McAllister’s 2018 release, Caminos, as half of a two-CD bundle with Mast Year). It was McAllister who, as well as contributing music, wrote the words and, as is usual when listening to words set to music, sometimes you can make them out and sometimes you can’t; however, they do their job well, clearly feeding and following the emotional contour of the musical narrative. Trying to figure them out further, I decided, was a needless distraction. And I love Archer’s choral writing, which was one of the high points on the album for me.

At the end of the album notes, Archer says ‘In this world of thousands of new recordings each year, I hope I’ve realised my aim of creating something a little different, and which will give some lasting enjoyment. What else is there?’ He makes an interesting point. With digital streaming the danger is that the best can get lost in the static and, even when it stands out, can get quickly forgotten in the never-ending stream of new releases. You could think of it as an on-going ‘mast year’ for recorded music if you like and, yes, Mast Year – the album – is definitely one of the juicier nuts on the forest floor, one to squirrel away in one’s digital download – or CD – collection. Enjoy! – Dominic Rivron, INTERNATIONAL TIMES https://internationaltimes.it/its-all-about-the-trees/

Often, this kind of project gives a rather abstract result – not here: we are told a story, which could be a contemporary musical. An album to listen to on repeat (to discover things we had not found before). – Guy Stuckens, RADIO AIR LIBRE

A mast year refers to when a group of trees, communicating with chemical signals between their root systems, decide collectively to maximize their fruit production, whereas in the preceding years, the trees may have prepared for a mast year by limiting their fruit production. This recent release from Discus Music is a nine-piece song cycle that is at once powerful, unusual, and explorative, a sound that is mysterious and unexpected, free of restrictions yet quite listenable and beautiful. No less than eighteen musicians and vocalists were involved in the creation of Mast Year, which came together over a lengthy process of several years. Claire McAllister is a composer, lyricist, and vocalist (in this case sometimes singing, sometimes spoken words) while Martin Archer serves primarily as editor, arranger, and collage artist, though he is also credited with woodwinds, organ, and electronics. Also on board in prominent roles are Jan Todd (Frostlake) playing harps, tagelharpa, cello, and electronics, Laura Cole on electric piano and grand piano interior, Yvonna Magda on violin and electronics, Graham South playing trumpet, Alicia Gardener-Trejo on flutes, Nathan Bettany playing oboe, Richard Jackson on percussion, Nick Robinson on acoustic and electric guitars, Chris Warburton on bass guitar, and the trio of Duncan Goddard, Steve Dinsdale, and Gary Houghton (ie. Radio Massacre International) doing their Berlin School thing on two cuts (“Always Never” and the title track, accompanied by a four piece choir led by Joseph Shaw). Some of the pieces are tightly composed, others more improvisational, and others a healthy mix of both. McAllister’s singing voice is stunningly beautiful on tracks like “Wild,” “Stripped,” and closer “Let the Days Be Long,” while the spoken lyrics on some of the other pieces are equally engaging. All of the tracks run together seamlessly into one long suite, and for that reason the download version features a complete version of the album with no track breaks, for those who may still own ancient players that insert spaces between the tracks. Any listener looking for something unusual and immersive, Mast Year might well be your ticket. –  Peter Thelen, Exposé http://expose.org/index.php/articles/display/martin-archer-claire-mcallister-mast-year-3.html

A grand project by multi-instrumentalist Martin Archer and vocalist Claire McAllister, for which they could count on fourteen guest musicians. They took the CD title and ecological theme from Peter Wohlleben’s book, ‘The Hidden Life Of Trees’. Electronics, (choral) singing, spoken word pieces, collages, and bizarre effects are coupled with acoustic instruments such as flute, trumpet, harp, and oboe. A theatrical audio play like a mini-opera that is best enjoyed with headphones. Released as a triple-fold digipack with added text and detailed info about the players and instruments. – Georges Tonla Briquet, JAZZ HALO https://www.jazzhalo.be/reviews/cdlpk7-reviews/various/discus-special-207208209/ 

With the Discus Music label [founded in 1994 by Martin Archer], all the albums are of exceptional quality, as are all the covers. They are beautiful because they are understated, refined, and imbued with exquisite taste, evident in the images, drawings, and photographs, as well as in the meticulously crafted presentation of the songs, like this MAST YEAR album, which unfolds across three panels with an eight-page booklet; the CD also has its own floral cover inside the third panel. A feast for the eyes as well as the ears. The cover art is by Silena. The opening track, Underground 5:13, is imbued with melodic lines over Claire McAllister’s smooth and precise vocals, with the same rapid-fire delivery and rhythmic delivery that propels the lyrics forward, reminiscent of Jon Anderson’s opening bars of The Revealing Science of God. The vibrant energy of a few notes on Laura Cole’s Fender Rhodes evokes Miles Davis’s *In a Silent Way*. Jan Todd transports us elsewhere with the delicate sounds of his electric harp and tagelharpa, a balanced ensemble into which Richard Jackson’s subtle percussion blends effortlessly. Graham South’s trumpet, Nathan Bettany’s oboe, Alicia Gardener-Trejo’s bass flute concert, Martin Archer’s clarinet, organ, and electronic synthesizers carry us toward a timeless vision of profoundly moving music, a realm where the spirit dwells. Chris Warburton’s bass plays within this harmonious blend of instruments, creating a joyful contrast.

Still Beating 6:32 continues its lofty and complex journey through atypical sounds in the same vein, featuring vocals, doubled voices, trumpet, electronic ensemble, Yvonna Magda’s electric violin, flute, minute percussion, Fender Rhodes, English horn, and Nathan Bettany’s oboe. An orchestral ensemble of the highest order achieves a tender yet cruel clarity in the life of tortured sounds. A staging of improvised meditations intertwined with synthesizers, organs, and electronics. Stripped 9:09, slow and long, retains that sublime sung voice and the same marvelous instruments of the soloists, with Jan Todd’s 34-string harp adding a delightful touch. Mast Year 10:15, alongside Berlin’s music, reveals the grace of the instruments, notably Martin Archer’s Mellotron, Duncan Goddard’s sequencer and soaring keyboards, and the ethereal choirs of Samuel Beagles, Emily Atkinson (soprano), Althea Tinker (soprano), and Joseph Shaw (alto/tenor, choirmaster). The sequencers of Steve Dinsdale and Duncan Goddard evoke Tangerine Dream. Fall 15:08, a work inspired by an indomitable freedom of expression, tone, ease, rhythm, and an uncommon sonic emergence, features the electronic cross-stringed harp, bass clarinet, and flute of Martin Archer, who, along with the other instruments, enter the realm of legendary composition. A detailed fresco of vocalizations, a monumental orchestral ensemble already showcased in the preceding pieces. Fifteen minutes of frenzy where emotion permeates the breathtaking musical alchemy. The prodigious trumpet, with its epic sweep, is the absolute benchmark. The creators’ and soloists’ mastery is evident in the staging, at once dramatic and raw, yet playful and passionate, successfully capturing the vibrant spirit of this addictive nectar. In Fruits In All Directions (3:08), the hulusi flute generates a breath of acute sensitivity, Chris Warburton’s bass always perfectly in tune with the otherworldly voice, the cymbals, the organ—a fragile, dreamlike ensemble trembling on chimeric fragments. In Always Never (7:35), choirmaster Joseph Shaw, alto/tenor, teeters between dream and controlled cacophony, several incantatory choirs, prayers, and improvisation with Claire McAllister’s voice dance beneath a torrent of unwavering sequencer and keyboards from the duo Steve Dinsdale and Duncan Goddard. Gary Houghton’s intoxicating electric guitar stands out amidst this monotonous jubilation. Trumpet and saxophone sections weave their way through the same incandescent atmosphere. Wild 5:25, Claire McAllister’s pure vocals open this emblematic 8th track, distinguished by its undulating, lunar-like sound. Dancing silver percussion, the immaculate beauty of the Fender Rhodes in communion with the trumpet, the elegant passages of the electric harp, and the poetic sounds of the cello and violin combine in an exceptionally refined ensemble.

Unprecedented sounds, colours, rhythmic flights in a recording inflected on the work where the dreamy flute, the babbling oboe, the bass clarinet, modular synthesizers, drum rolls are adorned with ornaments… An ideal orchestra offering every expressive detail of the author, in this perfect complicity of ease and synchronization.

Let The Days Be Long 2:47, the virtuoso voice radiating coloratura, the rhythm guitar slightly tinged with acidity, the aura of the Fender Rhodes, the celestial percussion as an illustrative conclusion to this work, both for its sensitivity and its technical perfection—a thousand details that make this nine-track opus a new gem to add to the Discus-Music collection. (****¾)  – Marie MESMER, HIGHLANDS MAGAZINE 

‘Mast Year’ is yet another ambitious Martin Archer disc for his own Discus Music label. This disc features the vocals of Claire McAllister with music provided by Jan Todd, Yvonne Magda, Martin Archer and Ms. McAllister herself. The personnel changes on each piece from four to ten musicians. I know of some/most of the musicians from other discs on the Discus label: Jan Todd (with Fjall & Frostlake), Laura Cole (Caines/Archer Axis) and Yvonna Magda (Orchestra of the Upper Atmosphere).

I hadn’t heard of Ms. McAllister before this disc arrived but I must admit that I am most enchanted by her lovely and often haunting voice. Starting with “Underground”, Ms. McAllister chants quietly “What do you want from me?, What do you need from me?”. As she repeats these lines, there are layers of dreamy drones provided by a chorus of voices, angelic harp, organ, trumpet, flute, clarinet and oboe. On “Still Beating” Mr. Archer layers singing and spoken word voice with a collage of violin, flute, organ, electronics and drums. Ms. McAllister’s enchanting wordless voice is often matched with enticing instrumental harmonies from the flute, keyboards and violin. The lyric here were inspired by a novel called, “The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben, which explains the long live and evolution of trees. The lyrics are printed in the enclosed booklet and give us a trees’ point of view as it grows. What I like most about this is that the music and voice(s) is/are never too dense, there is an organic flow which feels right as the disc unfolds. There is a UK-based electronics trio called Radio Massacre International (3 CD’s on Cuneiform) who provide some hypnotic sequencers for the title track with a mesmerizing chorus of voices and Frippish guitar. On “Fall”, Ms. McAllister uses her wordless voice to express the feelings (of a tree perhaps), with minimal, eerie sounding shimmering around her. No matter how many musicians play on each piece, the enchanting vocals are at the center, never screaming and most often singing with sublime restraint. I listened to this entire disc on headphones since the amp in my listening room is old and starting to sputter at times. The entire disc took me on a solemn journey with Martin Archer’s superb production being consistently mesmerizing. – Bruce Lee Gallanter, DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY NYC 

I have often said I never read a press release before I play an album, as this allows me to form my own opinion before reading about it, so when I first played this album, it was a huge shock to me. Discus Music are one of my favourite labels, and they tend to release mostly improvised and highly experimental music, but there were sections of this which were highly composed and contained lyrics and vocal melodies that had obviously been worked out in advance. There were even some choral sections, so just what was going on? That is not to say there isn’t improvisation as well, but it had been curated into something which was both pushing musical boundaries and being more steadfast in its approach, with vocals and lyrics which were taking us on a journey which felt almost orchestral in places.

The main person behind this, label owner and musician Martin Archer, found himself mostly composing, arranging and collaging (his term) the music which was recorded between 2023 and 2025 (normally albums on this label are recorded within a day or two) and playing very little. The project only truly came into focus when he read the book “The Hidden Life Of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben, which gave him the direction and being introduced to the music of Claire McAllister where he found the voice. Like all releases on Discus the CD comes in a digipak with full details of who played on what (there are a large number of musicians which I will not list here), plus a booklet containing all lyrics, and I would recommend playing the album on headphones with the package readily to hand, just like we used to back in the old days when listening to music was an end to itself.

Claire is a wonderful singer, not just with words but using her vocals to paint pictures when words will not do, while the accompaniment may be arranged and developed or come from improvisations which have been manipulated into something which is dynamic, peaceful, yet full of angst and depth. I don’t know how Claire managed to deliver the vocal melodies over the top of music which at times is unstructured and is always complex, yet somehow, she did that just that and the result is somewhat magical. It straddles multiple musical camps and styles, and at times is almost New Age but the real instrumentation never allows it to go quite that far. It is a remarkable release which needs to be truly listened to when one has the time to do just that, and the more it is played the more it reveals its beauty. As I play it now, there is a tui somewhere outside my window adding its own voice, and it combines wonderfully well in this story of the trees and their lives. Rating: 9/10 – Kev Rowland HOUSE OF PROG https://houseofprog.com/martin-archer-claire-mcallister-mast-year-2026/