Throughout the 2000s, Chicago-born trumpeter-singer Amir ElSaffar showed his skill as a composer and improviser on fine albums such as Two Rivers, that featured adventurously configured bands.

This latest release is a change of tack insofar as ElSaffar deploys his voice, brass and santur, a hammered dulcimer from Iraq, whence he claims heritage, in the context of electronic textures created by Italian sound artist Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch, The results are mixed. Pieces on which ElSaffar pits his quarter tones, engaging as they are, against ghostly draughts and stark wind-tunnel reverb are frankly underwhelming, but when he switches to trumpet and creates subtle laments against gentle shifting chords and spiky plucked strings the musical interest and emotional charge increase ten-fold.

The solo santur intro of ‘Pas De Deux’ is also beautiful but again the dimlit digital washes halfway through detract from rather than enhance the ambiance hitherto created. On the strength of this music, ElSaffar-Hoesch are a duo with clear potential but they could very possibly benefit from the input of a producer to steer them clear of cul-de-sacs and push to more fruitful creative routes.