Pérez draws on his strong social conscience in creating Crisálida (meaning chrysalis). From the safe confines of a nurturing cocoon, the Panamanian pianist’s new collaborators – the Global Messengers – truly blossom, on a release that crosses borders in more ways than one.

Two new suites feature – ‘La Muralla’ and ‘Fronteras’, translated as 'Glass Walls' and 'Borders' respectively. Rhythm is the anchoring force through both, approached with remarkable fleet-footedness for a first time out. But it’s in its formal structures where Crisálida is most impressive, never falling into a universalist mindset that asserts the primacy of a single style, but letting each tradition speak freely and eloquently, and allowing the international cast find links between their respective backgrounds – Palestine, Greece, Iraq, Cuba and Chile are all represented here. The common character performers find is intense, responding to issues around immigration, climate change and the environment with the sonic urgency they deserve.

The result is something unconventional. The sound most resembles light chamber music, the lack of a bass instrument and Pérez’s florid focus freeing the ensemble from any harmonic shackles. It all rolls into one on ‘Al-Musafir Blues’ – a blues more in character than form, that’s chocked full of meandering vocal lines and salubrious soloing. An uncategorisable gem from Pérez and The Global Messengers.