Once Gondwana’s Matthew Halsall heard this album – originally released in the US as a limited edition vinyl LP – it was pretty inevitable he would grab the LA-based quartet for his stable. Their sound has ‘spiritual jazz’ (in the contemporary sense) running through its core, inspired by bandleader Seth Ford-Young’s mindful upbringing and belief in the therapeutic powers of music. Ford-Young’s implacable double bass, paired with Josh Collazo’s often self-effacing drums, provide a steady and restraining pace to most of The Cradle’s eight instrumental tracks, while Sylvain Carton adds either a classic flute sound or tenor sax. Sometimes he manages both at once – a clever trick that even Rahsaan Roland never pulled off.

The pitch is all about soothing and healing: even a samba-shuffle track called 'Still Dancing' is pretty moderated, while 'Desert Ride' is a wilfully slowed piece of lift music. This approach works well, however, on the 5/4-time ballad 'Mama'. But it is Mitchell Yoshida on electric piano whose more exploratory (and occasionally disruptive) approach to harmonics provides the grit for the band’s oyster. He rides the Ethio-flavoured riff of 'Like Glass' on his own terms, eventually engaging Carton’s tenor in a roiling duel, and bursts out with jazzy enthusiasm on 'The Searcher'. That later-composed track closes the album by fading out during a fairly free group improvisation. If its brasher and more energised sound points towards their future direction of travel then it could be worth keeping an eye on Phi-Psonics.