Formed in 2008 for a celebration that marked Liverpool as the European Capital of Culture, Threads Orchestra is led by the viola player Adam Robinson with the Mercury nominated pianist Kit Downes and guitarist Chris Montague – two thirds of the band Troyka – key contributors as writers as well as performers. Their compositions on the impressive debut Threads have engaging, spatially-sensitive song-like themes that fit well in the strings ensemble context and improvisations that sound thoughtfully understated. Downes' ‘Inheritance’ works its way from a mournful strings unison into something that sounds like a loungey Henry Mancini tune remade by Bill Frisell, while Montague's ‘Oliver Reed’ is a suitably lopsided affair with the Troyka pair suggesting momentarily what might have happened had Cecil Taylor and Captain Beefheart joined the same band. But next to a tango-ish strings ensemble rhythm reminiscent of a Nina Rota score to a Fellini film – is an impressive Stéphane Grappelli-inspired solo by the BBC Philharmonic violinist Julian Gregory. Downes' folky song-like theme and wistfully floaty piano on ‘Attached’ is reminiscent of Brad Mehldau's on his 2010 release Highway Rider while his ‘T&C’ sounds for a while as if Jarrett's European Quartet were performing an early song from Van Morrison. Both airily lyrical and unpretentious, Threads offers a refreshing new angle on contemporary chamber jazz.