If the concept of the studio as an instrument is one that's been around since the birth of multi-track recording then bass guitarist Steve Lawson's own customised and portable ‘studio’ of effects pedals, sophisticated loop station, Kaoss pads and drum machine, effectively means that being a ‘solo bassist’ creates anything but a solo sound. His 15th album to date, The Surrender Of Time, eschews showboating technique and bass histrionics (of which there are plenty at this stage of the instrument's development) in favour of a highly personal soundtrack mapping today's mood of turmoil and uncertainty, every sweet melody given a glitchy dystopian twist, a reflection perhaps that ones own joy is often tempered by a relentlessly grim news cycle. Influenced more by the ambient meditations of guitarists such as Robert Fripp and David Torn – not least when some bruising blues-edged lead distortion blows up – Lawson has refined his real-time sonic sleight of hand to astonishing levels – especially on the opening, and pointedly titled ‘When You Are Accustomed To Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression’: its spectral drones hovering like fog on the horizon before a softly plucked melody line appears, with reverse-delayed vapour trails wafting around each note. A very fine bassist, Lawson always matches finesse and good taste with vast amounts of space, his unhurried virtuosity allowing each idea to speak, be it on the simple poignancy of ‘Her Kindness’ or the supremely spacious fretless soliloquy of ‘Five Stages’. It's a soundworld that offers some very welcome sanctuary from the storm.