You write a ballad and think it’s going to provide the quiet spot in the midst of a symbolism-laden suite of tunes but then it turns out, when you present it to your fellow players, that you’ve actually produced a commanding Traneesque hymn of spiritual ascension. This seems to have been what happened with ‘Accompaniment’, which kicks off this engaging set by drummer and leader Andrew Bain’s Anglo-American quartet: “As we rehearsed, it became this classic Coltrane rumble-and-tumble, elevating it with some kind of higher energy,” explains Bain. “So, importantly, I realised that together we had decided this was something different, and it became the opener to the suite.” This process is telling. Credited with providing all the tunes on the disc, Bain says he doesn’t consider himself a traditional composer, but rather a writer of music for improvisers, ideas that form the basis for “an experimental journey evolving on the road, night after night”. Recorded midway through a tour last autumn, Embodied Hope is imbued with just that liquid experimental magic, conjured by a group of talented improvisers caught on the wing.