Trumpeter Rory Simmons, a long standing member of the LOOP Collective and the Jamie Cullum band, has moved closer in recent years to merging all his diverse work as leader into a signature sound that's a dark-edged hybrid of his primary influences: spacey Nordic jazztronica, leftfield New York-based jazz, effects-driven instrumentation and post-rock improv. His Anglo-Norwegian vocal-led trio Eyes of a Blue Dog led the way, as did the final recording from his now defunct octet Fringe Magnetic. He pushes the aesthetic out further with his trio Monocled Man, which features an idiosyncratic pair of London-based musicians: the Troyka guitarist Chris Montague and versatile drummer Jon Scott. Following on from the 2014 debut Southern Drawl, We Drift Meridian is an ‘imaginary’ soundtrack to a series of fascinating historical incidents in which figures are marooned on desolate islands around the globe. ‘Tromelin’ with its Portishead-like song harmonies, soaring sepulchral-toned trumpet hook, and pinging contemporary beats, sets the bar high; the spookily excellent ‘Marie Betsy’ sounds like a Four Tet mix of Sketches of Spain and ‘Erebus’ echoes more the influences of such leftfield New York-based composers as David Binney and Ben Monder. The fine UK-based Swedish singer-songwriter Emilia Mårtensson is guest vocalist on the hooky title track and Ed Begley, who has a voice somewhere between Paul Simon and Thom Yorke, sings on the bluesy Aphex Twin-ish ‘Deception Island’, while the pair join up for ‘Fiction Afloat’. Begley's voice might be a more acquired taste, but this is certainly one of the strongest releases of 2016 from the cutting-edge of UK contemporary jazz.