With his membership of the fine collaborative trio Thumbscrew as well as string of leader gigs in various configurations for ECM, double bassist Michael Formanek can lay rightful claim to notable status in contemporary improvised music. He has long made music in which form is strongly defined without confining his bands and this new offering by his Elusion Quartet, a supergroup of sorts, given that each member is also a well established composer-leader, builds strongly on its impressive 2018 debut Time Like This.

Leaning to the avant-garde without falling into all-out free improvisation, this is a small group with not so much a big sound as a great ability to move from small to big and back again, in terms of attack and energy, with the players holding down sensitively and letting out ferociously with no disjuncture.

Highlights include ‘Bury The Lede’, a barbed rock requiem in which saxophonist Tony Malaby splits tones to shatter glass while the other players move with both stealth and strength. ‘Cracked Bells’ is an even more beguiling suite that starts with a misty, temple-like ambiance created by Ches Smith’s gamelanish vibes before progressing through yearning melodic episodes, complete with concise but effective motifs from Formanek and some wonderfully blurry tremelo chords from pianist Kris Davis prior to the whole band settling into a creeping wayward march on the coda.

Intelligent and impactful music that has a pleasingly wide range of light and shade.