Christine Abdelnour and Andy Moor have explored the notion of hypnagogia or 'unprotected spleep' to drive their process for this improvised album, delving in their own experience and memories. Unprotected sleep is commonly defined as an altered state of consciousness that occurs beyond the proper or intended time of waking up, not sleeping in your own safe bed, or even sleeping without a blanket. Being slightly out of phase, one is vulnerable, fragile, but the mind is at the same time very fluid, ultra-associative with an extraordinary memory. In their music making Abdelnour (saxophone) and Moor (guitar) explore the possibilities of real and hallucination sounds and ranges that might come with deep dreaming. One thinks of the necessary openness and intense acuity that are necessary tools for successful improvisation. And of the naked honesty that can make it touching and powerful. Unprotected Sleep is an imaginative dialogue between two idiosyncratic voices in experimental improvisation. "Eleven years ago Christine and I organized a recording session in Vandoeuvre during the Musique Action Festival. We were invited by the late Dominique Repecaud to perform 'live' and he kindly offered us a space in the building to record. At the time Christine and I had hardly played together and we spent a couple of days in a small rehearsal studio somewhere in the building of CCAM recording our improvisations. We felt there were a handful of pieces that really stood out but not enough to release as a CD just then, so we shelved the project, waiting for an opportunity to record again in the near future. That future took 10 years to materialize as both of us became very busy with our newly arrived families and other music projects that took up most of our time. We ended up not playing together for many years, until we finally reunited in Rotterdam for a duo in 2019 during the Ex Festival. In September 2021 we managed to organize a second recording session after a concert in Instants Chavir's in Montreuil in our friend Bani's house." - Andy Moor