On his sixth album for Pi Recordings, pianist Matt Mitchell makes his concept clear with a vividly expressive title. Zealous Angles is important because it is in the plural rather than singular, and in the context of an agile, malleable trio signals music that moves vigorously through strangely disruptive cycles.

The contraction of one phrase often stands against the expansion of another, particularly when drummer Dan Weiss implies swing that abruptly curtails while bassist Chris Tordini scrambles oddly then flows evenly as Mitchell vaults through wide intervals. The result is polyrhythmic, flexi-metric but above all multi-sensation, a push to playfulness and whimsy juxtaposed with a pull to seriousness and rigour.

But if the songs have an agitated, displaced drive, so well-illustrated by ‘Jostler’, then there is beauty created when the angles are cautious rather than zealous. ‘Angled Languor’ is a highlight because of a lightness of touch and a hazy melodic reverie resulting from a bold use of thinner, trebly sounds, spacious, economic lines and a far less dense arrangement overall. It makes the point that sensuality, romanticism even, has its place in sonic innovation. Mitchell may have a lower profile than the Taborns, Morans and Iyers of this world, but on this enticing set, arguably his best since 2017's A Pouting Grimace, he proves to be a piano player-thinker-metaphor maker who deserves his place in the spotlight.