There's a lot of it about right now. From Laura Jurd's Dinosaur and Donny McCaslin's Bowie band right through to Aussie piano trio Trichotomy (see review this month), musicians primarily reared on the ‘live’ acoustic jazz tradition are looking to engage with the sonic universe of electronica and audio processing. For Partikel, as with the aforementioned bands, it's not about simply creating a new hybrid of acoustic jazz and electronic music. Having broken new ground with 2014's String Theory CD, the trio's fourth album to date, Counteraction, extends the sonic palette further, filling out the soundscape but retaining their more intimate, rhythm driven sax-bass-drums signature previously established on their first two albums. Adding significant value to the colourful shift in instrumentation on Counteraction is the gifted young electric guitarist Ant Law whose strong atmospheric ideas feel relevant to the whole, while Benet McLean on violin, leader of the string quartet on String Theory, demonstrates his flexibly lyrical approach. While rock influences from prog through to Radiohead are far more explicit than on previous albums thanks especially to Law's pithy contribution, both jazz and global rhythms are still the driving force and drummer Eric Ford's imaginative engagement with West African, Algerian and latin grooves continues to have an impact on new directions. More diverse and symphonic in ambition than previously, Partikel are telling new stories bursting with invention.