Abbasi is nothing if not fecund. This is his ninth album, but at least his third in rapid succession with a UK release. Each has an individual line-up and voice, and Continuous Beat is marked as his first trio release. What makes it intriguing is that he has taken a largely acoustic sound and fed it through a box of effects, phasing et al, which give the whole an aural landscape that evokes both mid-1970s Metheny and Frisell yet remains, just, his own vision. It also marks an almost conscious move away from the crossover sounds that Abbasi has brought in from his Pakistani heritage. Instead he's covered the likes of Jarrett (replete with Takeishi replicating DeJohnette's solo from ‘The Cure’), Monk (‘Off Minor’) and Gary Peacock (‘Major Major’). The result is Abbasi's most accessible album yet, if not his most innovative. Ironically, the most evocative cut is the closing take on the ‘Star Spangled Banner’, which in its acoustic whimsy makes a curious counterpoint to Hendrix's rage and ripping of old Glory all those years ago at Woodstock.