The opening ‘Bokeh’ is an immediate signal that this fifth studio album intends to move a long way from the swing/mainstream origins of the Kansas Smitty’s band. Its repetitive phrases and intermittent sections in a more broken metre promise something fresh and original, but that never quite arrives, not helped by a vapid solo from Dylan Jones, albeit supported by some great drumming from Will Cleasby. It’s when leader Giacomo Smith returns to something closer to the style he’s very much made his own over the last decade that the record takes off, with his supple clarinet playing off Dave Archer’s guitar on ‘Face in the Crowd’. This is catchy and hypnotic, really drawing the listener in. And there’s similar rhythmic propulsion in the urgent drive of ‘Ghosts’ that follows, underpinned by Ferg Ireland’s fidgety bass. There’s some strong ensemble playing in the head to ‘Cha U Kao’, and here the rhythm section really gels.

By the time the band gets to the closing ‘Carpenter’ ushered in by the bell-like repeated notes of Webb’s piano, there’s been some fine playing all round, and the album leaves us with a very strong sense that Kansas has truly been left bobbing in the wake of the players’ development.