Setting up Edition Records in 2008 certainly made a dent in pianist/composer Dave Stapleton’s performing career. That ‘cottage industry’ label quickly grew into a key player in contemporary jazz with an uncanny knack for backing the best of emerging talent. This Slowly Rolling Camera collaboration with drummer Elliot Bennett and producer Deri Roberts has, however, provided Stapleton with an ongoing outlet since 2014 and Silver Shadow is their 7th album. The project has proved very flexible, past versions having utilised full string sections and multiple guest artists or simply come from the core trio.

The constant factor, led by Roberts, is the notion of production - the evocative assemblage of electro-acoustic musical textures around uncomplicated thematic material that has been likened to ‘trip hop’ originators Portishead and the Cinematic Orchestra. While that comparison remains a useful starting point for listening to their music, there’s also a willingness to give creative soloists the freedom to disrupt the carefully constructed pieces.

Thus, Josh Arcoleo’s cascading tenor sax contribution to ‘Rebirth’, Verneri Pohjola’s expressive trumpet on ‘Spotless Mind’ or the plangent bass solo from Jasper Høiby that emerges from the cross-rhythmic melange of ‘Mirror Image’. One Portishead-evoking element is the slow tremolo of Stapleton’s Rhodes on the title track, driven along by Bennett’s drum ’n’ bass clattering and underpinning a fine duel between Arcoleo’s stabbing sax and Cinematic Orchestra guitarist Stuart McCallum’s flamboyant rockery. It’s probably the most unleashed piece among what are often quite tightly-charted tunes embellished with carefully crafted electronica, each track having its own distinctive ambience. The result is absorbing contemporary music well worthy of proper listening.