There's a clear division of labour at work in this particular axis: Ron Caines, erstwhile member of UK psych-prog originals East of Eden, writes the tunes, while Martin Archer, Discus label head honcho, arranges them for interpretation by a hand-picked ensemble of top UK improvisers.

On this follow-up to their 2018 debut, Les Oiseaux De Matisse, Archer brings studio effects into clearer focus, encouraging a rich electroacoustic stew. Opening track ‘Rothko Veil/Dream Feathers’, for instance, stacks up bright electronic flickers and flutters to create a chirruping environment from which Caines' alto sings out an aching, unadorned refrain that seems subliminally to echo Ornette's ‘Lonely Woman.’

It's not the only seeming incongruity at play. On pieces like ‘Mazeep,’ a tumbling, circular riff strains against Johnny Hunter's turbulent free drum churn before the whole thing latches onto a snippy rim-shot rhythm. Caines has made it abundantly clear that he harbours little love for the jazz-rock his previous band were known for, while Archer is an avowed fan of Soft Machine – a creative tension that manifests in curious ways: on ‘African Violets,’ Archer overdubs a queasily modulated, Canterbury-esque one-man horn section while, on ‘Almazon/1934 reprise,’ Laura Cole's electric piano and Anton Hunter's soaring electric guitar propose a kind of roiling free-prog rock.