I didn't know what a khene was, nor for that matter a pi saw, before Tales of Hackney dropped through my letterbox. They are, I now discover, a Thai mouth organ and a Thai flute, respectively, and on this improvised trio recording they are feelingly coaxed and blown by Clive Bell. The project began with a live concert performance at Cafe OTO in Dalston, after which Bell, percussionist Mark Wastell, and double-bassist and ECM regular Arild Andersen repaired to Hackney Road Studios to continue the story. Things get hypnotically euphoric on the likes of ‘III’, while a more meditative, spacious, albeit intense air prevails on tracks such as ‘V’ – in the typical manner of roman numerals, the titles are as tight-lipped about the particular musical character of each segment, or tale, as they can be. No matter, the story unfolds anyway.