Best known as one third of MOBO and Mercury Prize nominated Roller Trio, here saxophonist James Mainwaring turns away from their catchy hooks and crunchy riffs to concentrate on a more studious exercise. Using a system derived from serialist composers, he sets out a suite of improvisations based, he says, on eight of the 12 possible trichords, extemporising permutations on the chords and the notes contained therein.

It's an approach that John Coltrane explored in his later work, but Mainwaring gives it a modern twist, adding ominous drones, synth squiggles, twitchy electro beats and field recordings of birdsong, rainfall, rushing water and other tantalisingly indefinable atmospherics. Given the academic seriousness of the project, what's surprising is just how accessible – and varied – his explorations are. In one, he’ll offer up delicate bleats that coagulate into complex clusters. In another, shrill, see-sawing announcements glide effortlessly into a triumphant melody. The careful use of overdubbing provides another dimension, adding swift asides and rejoinders to his own statements. In all, it's a thoughtful and wholly successful investigation into the manifold possibilities inherent in judiciously applied creative limitations.