Agreed, though I would add that “messy” is sometimes just the moment where the arrangement stops protecting the listener.
A little exposed is not the same…
Yes, that distinction matters. Space can clarify counterpoint rather than dissolve it, and Officium seems closer to that second case than to a true hybridization.
I think you are right to frame it that way. The album makes the listener hear friction first, then any supposed blend, and that is why the saxophone can feel both intrusive and structural.
