Picking up from her 2022 album The Lights Are Always On, which examined events and reactions around the Covid pandemic, Lynne Arriale’s new record was conceived as a through-composed suite that celebrates and explores shared and universal human qualities in a time of flux, war and political polarisation.

Each movement or section has a single word title that reflects one such quality, and the degree to which each reflects the relevant characteristics is nowhere better demonstrated than in the adjacent tracks ‘Love’ and ‘Faith’, the former a delicate contrapuntal ballad, the latter drawing on the structure and harmony of the gospel and hymnal repertoire, while remaining an original piece of writing. ‘Curiosity’ takes us into free, almost abstract territory, whereas ‘Persistence’ chips away at a rhythmic and melodic rock-face. For several pieces, Lynne has dedicated them to people who exemplify the qualities they explore, from Greta Thunberg (‘Passion’) to the young poet Mattie Stepanek (‘Gratitiude’), and from Nobel prizewinner Malala Yousafzai (‘Persistence’) to the Karkhiv Oblast nurse Khrystyna Lapatenko (‘Heart’).

Arriale’s trio members have always enriched and extended her ideas, and here the telepathic understanding of Israeli bassist Near seems at times to give her an extra left hand, while Polish drummer Zyta’s inventive timbral palette greatly expands the soundscape of the suite. The glorious finale is a return to ‘Love’, but played by Lynne alone as a clavinova solo in which the instrument replicates a choir of voices giving an uplifting message of hope for humanity in what often seem to be dark times.