If nothing else, the Swedish band Angles enjoys the game of musical chairs. A sextet called Angles 6 in 2007, a nonet called Angles 9 in 2012, a 12-piece ensemble called Angles in 2022, it subsequently slimmed down to an octet, but appears here as a 13- piece. Its main claim to fame, however, is the presence of Magnus Broo on trumpet and Fredrik Ljungkvist on saxes, two of Sweden’s most accomplished instrumentalists. But they don’t get too much to say on Death of Kalypso, Angles’ 12th album.

An ambitious jazz opera, written “for our times,” its publicity notes conceding it is “a baffling tour de force” whose libretto takes aim at human failings – hubris, religion and war in Ukraine specifically; to which was later added the conflict in Gaza. Vocalist Elle-Kari takes centre stage; her singing here seems to be inspired by the recitative side of Alban Berg, minus the tone rows.

Jazz certainly lurks in the background, often sounding as if they are in the rehearsal room next door, and while this project has its faults, such as stress testing the human boredom threshold, or a libretto that would have the crypto-analysts at Bletchley Park scratching their heads, there is something about this work that while it is hard to love, it could with more work and judicious editing, be so much better.