Mary Halvorson and Jessica Pavone both work with cerebral composer Anthony Braxton, but their third album as a duo is considerably more accessible than Braxton's knotty, sometimes forbiddingly cerebral works. Halvorson, a guitarist, and Pavone, a viola player, draw from jazz, folk, rock, and 20th-century classical influences on these eight tracks. Moods range from the harsh, aggressive "Barber" to the plangent, almost rustic closer, "And Goodnight." Halvorson and Pavone share lyrical and vocal duties, their voices entwining to create a new take on the alt-folk harmonies of acts like the Handsome Family or Voice of the Seven Woods. THIN AIR does not fit neatly into any particular genre, but it's an often thrilling piece of work that shows intriguing new directions in cross-genre explorations.