In the last few years, Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries has often been found dishing out Sonny Sharrock-isms in high-energy improv alongside the likes of UK saxophonist Colin Webster. But, before he sunk his teeth into the free jazz biscuit, he had already developed a career as a composer of ambient and drone works. Perhaps you could view this new release – on Webster’s Raw Tonk label – as a reconciliation of the two impulses. This pan-European quintet – featuring Amsterdam-based sax and drums team Dikeman and Hadow, fellow Belgian Verhoeven on double-bass, and Portuguese trumpeter Vicente – sets out with the slow creaking of arco bass drone, flickering brushes and the shushing of unsounded wind in brass. Even at its most animated, there’s still a steely sense of control and restraint at work, as Serries’s taut strokes and flicks spar with Dikeman’s searing tenor brays and Vicente’s shrill bursts, while the rhythm section churn quietly behind them. It feels like a held breath.