Shepik is a versatile and accomplished guitarist who spent time as a sideman for Paul Motian as well as leading a diverse range of projects that encompass everything from organ trios to Bulgarian wedding music.

This album leans into the Balkan sound world – opener ‘Code Red’ features keening violin and a moody minor key progression over a five-beat rhythm – but Shepik’s own guitar sound is appealingly dry, clean and precisely articulated: Kenny Burrell would surely have approved. There’s generous space for the excellent band to stretch out on tracks like the riff-heavy ‘Symbiocity’ and while the leader’s guitar is always present, strengthening the ostinatos and injecting its own incisive commentary into the mix, he never dominates unduly.

Each track starts with exotic-scale unison melodies and then develops into a group round-table, with John Hadfield’s outstanding drumming driving the exchange of ideas. The mood is consistently sombre and portentous - from the plaintive ‘Future Generations’ to the insistently pulsing ‘All Hands’ - as befits an album billed as ‘a 10-part meditation on climate change’.

It’s not a bring-down though - the band light a fire, the music is consistently exciting and there’s always another surprise twist or change of timbre and tempo around the corner. If you like Avishai Cohen or Mahavishnu Orchestra then this could be for you.