Since winning the EBU Jazz Competition at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 2007, Empirical seem to have undergone a process of both flux and artistic growth since their eponymously titled debut album produced by Courtney Pine in 2007. With only Facey and Forbes remaining since the early days, this, their third album, is their most adventurous statement to date. From the attention-getting introduction to ‘Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say’ they appear more willing to explore beyond the hard bop certainties that characterised their early work, aware that others (Eric Dolphy, for example, the inspiration behind their last album) have been there before them, they are now willing to incorporate a wider range of influences into their music – the shimmering vibes ostinato that opens the title track or haunting introduction on ‘An Ambiguous State of Mind’ that presages an angular, boppish theme a tempo that simultaneously shows where they have come from and where they are going.