In the liner notes, the drummer Jim Black gives the simple yet indirect answer of ‘I like songs’ to the question of what his approach might be to composition. The new album The Constant is evidence Black looks to strip away any excess in search of illuminating a melody line, but also in terms of creating a nuanced soundscape with the assimilation of electronica into his hypnotic kit sound, echoing the influence of bands such as Radiohead and Aphex Twin as well as jazz-rocking contemporaries such as The Bad Plus. Following his imposing work in the 1990s for Tim Berne's Bloodcount, Ellery Eskelin trio and Dave Douglas’ Tiny Bell Trio through to the quartet Human Feel, in the noughties he was the reluctant leader of his own band AlasNoAxis, an influential precursor to post-jazz bands such as the UK's Polar Bear. This is the same trio as on his 2014 release and features the young pianist Elias Stemeseder (who Black met in 2008) an impressive improviser taking his cues from Paul Bley and Keith Jarrett while the extraordinary New York bassist Thomas Morgan completes a darkly formidable, role-resisting line-up.