Four years in the making, this eight-track album from the husband and wife pairing of award-winning vocalist Zoë Gilby and multi-instrumentalist Andy Champion scores highly for its strikingly distinctive sound-world, a multi-layered mash-up of alt pop, prog and jazz which scrambles musical categories in rich and fascinating ways. Inspired by the chance sight of a formation of birds flying past their bedroom window, and characterised by a pleasing textural richness, album opener ‘For The Day’ introduces the central themes of movement and transition which permeate the recording. A collection of songs united by their intense emotional power, ‘Running Feet’ evokes images of people having to flee their own homes in fear of their lives, ‘Try To Take It Twice’ features a protagonist who removes themselves from an abusive relationship, while ‘Sending Electricity’ is a love song whose transporting coda seems to defy closure. Long-standing collaborators, guitarist Mark Williams and pianist Paul Edis, are vital components of the overall sound, and a trio of other guests make telling contributions, not least Emma Fisk's gorgeous string lines on ‘Believe’.

Clocking in at just a shade under 10 minutes, the concluding ‘Smoke And Mirrors’ serves almost as a mini suite. Originally commissioned for Jazz North East's fiftieth anniversary celebrations in 2016, and inspired by the music from the iconic 1970s film Get Carter, the song shines a bright light on T Dan Smith-era Newcastle with a circuitous structure that keeps you guessing until the very end.