Mabe Fratti and Bill Orcutt’s ‘Almost Waking’ Pairs Cello and Guitar Without Easy Resolutions

The Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti and the US guitarist Bill Orcutt met through mutual admiration. During an interview around last year’s Sentir Que No Sabes, Fratti praised Orcutt’s aggressive four-string playing, forged in the 90s noise-rock band Harry Pussy. He reached out and they started trading files. Their album Almost Waking is the result, an intimate set of conversational duets that balance restless disruption with moments of genuine warmth.

Fratti’s cello and Orcutt’s guitar don’t just share space. They twist around each other. On “Forced & Forced & Forced,” Orcutt’s trademark string-snapping plucks meet Fratti’s fragmented bow-scraping, a torrid tangle that never settles. “Steps of the Sun” takes a different route, the instruments harmonizing tenderly, swapping lead phrases like a sung duet. Fratti’s own voice appears twice, lifting the record out of pure instrumental dialogue. “El Inicio Es Cuestión de Suerte” builds a stately ballad over a looping guitar figure, while “Todo Puede Ser Error” makes room for a jangling Orcutt solo.

The album reframes both artists. Orcutt’s adversarial style finds a melodic context without losing its bite. Fratti, known for lush and warped art-pop, reveals how naturally she fits into Orcutt’s spidery, fragmented world. Almost Waking isn’t a grand statement, but it captures two originals discovering common ground that feels freshly unsettled and alive.