Up until now, the New York saxophonist Tim Berne's sixyear-old band Snakeoil (although his collaboration with the younger pianist Matt Mitchell and percussionist Ches Smith goes back further) has recorded as an acoustic quartet. For the band's third ECM album, the follow up to Shadow Man in 2013, Berne adds young guitarist Ryan Ferreira to the line up and expands the sonic possibilities still further with pianist Mitchell's occasional electronic effects. Berne's electric guitar partners over the years have perfectly complemented his visceral, serrated-edge sax tone and sharp-angled phrasing as well as the otherworldly sonic soundscapes triggered by his compositions. His Science Friction band, that featured guitarist Marc Ducret, was arguably one of his strongest. On You've Been Watching Me the effect is similar but in the hands of a guitarist whose sonic world is less confrontational and mostly ambient in quality. With a broader palette this time out, Berne and his band develop deeper, compelling contrasts in instrumental colour and texture. Stripped-down intimate chamber classical-type or spookily ambient settings develop into dense, whirling abstract collective jazz or more full on prog-ish onslaughts with the mesmerising ‘Embraceable Me’ and ‘Semi-Self Detached’ among the best tracks.