We live in a fusion age, so be it food, clothes, lifestyle or car names, the concept’s ubiquity has gone well beyond its bell-bottomed volume busting big-haired jazz-rock roots of the 1970s. Yet it was the muscle- shirted, mullet-sporting, white-trainer wearing 1980s that did untold damage to its musical image and anyone stepping into that arena was bound to box themselves into a taste-free zone. Times change, however, and while some were still scoffing at those shoulder-padded jackets a new generation of fusioneers sprang forth – notably interstellar shredders Animals as Leaders, led by guitar deity Tosin Abasi, and Alice Coltrane’s nephew Stephen Ellis, aka electronica guru Flying Lotus, has embraced fusion into his omnivorous soundworld – and not to forget the melancholic virtuosity of the genre’s original godfather, Allan Holdsworth. Which brings us, not that neatly, to this über-skilled London trio of guitarist David Preston, six-string bassist Kevin Glasgow and drummer Laurie Lowe for which all of the aforementioned have in some way contributed, albeit by osmosis, to their stunning debut album. These influences run through the shimmering sheets of notes that ripple through opener ‘Colour Possesses’, while lyrical solos are launched from the pensive minor mood of ‘Elephant and Castle’ – with both Preston and Glasgow tempering the giddy tumble of notes in every solo with some of that Holdsworthian heartache, pausing to hang tellingly on many finely-judged phrases. Hip rhythmic ideas percolate and for all Glasgow’s flash he and Lowe are also happy laying in the cut. Glasgow must surely be among the best bassists this country has ever produced – his work with Tommy Smith and Tim Garland certifying him as top class – and here, in this unfettered setting he solos with the fluidity of a saxophonist across the entire four octave range of his instrument. Lowe is another emerging firebrand, his solos and accompaniment straight out of the top drawer, while Preston melds chordal invention and serpentine solos like a young master. Genre definitions are increasingly meaningless today, so whatever category this may reside in, fundamentally it’s just damn fine music.