Known on the international circuit for being one third of Jasper Høiby's Phronesis, the pianist Ivo Neame has also shown much promise on his four albums to date as a composer-leader. It's so far, perhaps, the intricate rhythmical aspects and more cerebral qualities to his writing that has stopped further advancement, at least in terms of receiving a wider audience. His fifth recording, Moksha, should change all that. Here there's a shift in direction that's not so much about style as a relaxation of the kind of tricky, airtight grooves at the core of Neame's compositions on previous CDs; as a result, on Moksha both melody and rhythm section are allowed more breathing space. Electric keyboard and ambient electronics also play a more central role next to acoustic piano this time. A big asset is the young London-based saxophonist George Crowley, an earthy groove player, somewhat in the Chris Potter mould. His strong soloing, for instance on the opener ‘Vegetarians’, makes it feel like an un-Neame like contemporary fusion piece. Elsewhere, the dreamy post-bop of ‘Outsider’ mixes with the excellent spikily latin-orientated ‘Laika’ with Neame sounding sharply lucid on Fender Rhodes channelling something of the spirit of electric prog-era Chick Corea. As with Neame's recordings so far, it's a grower, but this one gets you hooked sooner rather than later. It's arguably his strongest and certainly his most directly lyrical music so far.