Guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson‘s new release, Saturn Sings on Firehouse 12 Records, is one of four featured titles in The Hot Box section of DownBeat‘s December issue.

“Saturn Sings is a wisely calibrated affair that finds the inventive guitarist reaching a new level of eloquence by balancing skronk with sweetness,” writes Jim Macnie in the main four-star review. “The shards of melody that drive the pieces—somewhat abtrusive and mildly cantankerous in their own way—are rendered with interplay both lithe and spry. Ultimately, Saturn Sings sounds like Halvorson is cracking her own code, making complex tunes express themselves with a bit more ease, and revealing that a punch can be delivered in numerous ways.”

In their accompanying four-star capsule reviews, Paul de Barros declares, “Halvorson has quite simply the most original guitar sound since Bill Frisell and Kurt Rosenwinkel,” and John Corbett adds, “the writing has great range and originality, and Halvorson’s precise, hardscrabble guitar playing is just plain bad-ass.”