Keyboardist and composer Bill Laurance, an integral founding and current member of Snarky Puppy yet increasingly stepping out as a solo artist, follows his 2014 debut Flint with what sounds like part two of a suite, but is in fact a more reflective work in the form of Swift. Many of Laurance's themes are inspired by travel, and in turn a sense of longing for home, with ‘Denmark Hill’ an ode to his London residence, and ‘December in New York’ a meditation on being at a bittersweet distance from his native land. Yet in the main Swift's travelogue is a funkily frenetic mix of Laurance's subtly shifting dance grooves, which organically evolve without being tempo-locked to sequencers or programmed beats, all powered by drummer Searight's veritable dictionary of contemporary beats and bassist League's constantly inventive work on double, electric and synth basses. The strings and occasional dash of brass add a melancholic yearning that's laced with harmonic and textural sophistication while Laurance's piano is the driving force at the heart of the music – always serving it but never dominating it. Swift is laden with sly melodic hooks – the eastern tinged ‘Red Sand’ for example – yet its ambient apotheosis is the aptly titled ‘Mr Elevator’, a hazily infectious anthem that perfectly sums up Laurance's deviously effective blend of panoramic electro-jazz and dance music.