Just two weeks before the initial Covid-19 lockdown was announced last March, guitarist Dave Tucker assembled a small group of musicians for a recorded performance at London's Cafe OTO – in the hope that something extraordinary would emerge during the session.

Tucker took an ‘educated guess’ that his choice of musicians would produce what he was hoping for and, as a direct result, a name for the group and project was also found. Educated Guess is/are an improvisational delight with Tucker and Thurston Moore gently bending guitar strings together over Pat Thomas' moodily erupting piano salvoes and Mark Sanders' skating drum and percussion fills. To this melange Tucker injects samples of electronic noise that alternate between sounding like the signal from some passing UFO, a security siren or the sound an HGV makes when backing up. Split into two sections (each titled ‘The New Normal’) the playing swings from playful freeform patterning to dark despond as Thomas embarks on a journey to the lower notes of his instrument and proceeds to dig a deep, dark hole. Amidst the sonic clutter that both pieces occasionally become ensnared in, there are also genuine moments of wonder, mystery and reflection to be discovered.