Talk about epic. Scandinavian free jazz/experimental ensemble Fire! Orchestra open the second decade of their existence with the largest, most sprawling version of their elastic lineup yet – in this case 43 members spanning five continents! Echoes is the group's seventh record, an expansive triple vinyl (two CD) album that encompasses contemporary jazz but also rock, folk, world, the avant-garde electronic and classical music. For added interest, the project was recorded in the presence of, and mastered by, avant-garde superhero Jim O’Rourke – and it sounds great.

But what of the music? Well, to put it simply, that's great too. Starting out with the working title Big Bang, this two-hour, 14-part piece had its concert premiere at last October's Stockholm Jazz Festival to rapturous applause from a full house.

As one might expect, the core elements of this album are the seven self-titled 'ECHOES' parts, each mostly over 10 minutes in duration, interspersed with shorter pieces where we find a string quartet, an 'African' section, a bit of skronk and either meditative or noisily turbulent passages of an exploratory and experimental nature.

Considering the size of the orchestra, this is a very open, organic, detailed and dynamic recording with a lot of space in which to hang the often densely-layered instrumental contributions. Berthling and Werliin's hypnotic grooves provide a solid base for the other, mostly reed and brass, instruments; and the hand-picked musicians are all on a very high level and at top of their game, conducted by Gustafsson but given free reign when it´s called for. Jim O´Rourke was apparently given carte blanche when it came to the selections and the mix, and plays a big part in how the album turned out.

He did a good job, because despite the dizzying array of styles and instrumentation on display here, Echoes makes for a satisfying and conceptually coherent musical experience, one that rewards repeated and careful revisiting. A winner.