‘Atmosphère! Atmosphère!’ as Arletty famously intoned in Marcel Carné's classic 1938 film Hôtel du Nord – Dominic Miller's second release for ECM, Absinthe, certainly has plenty of it. Recorded in the South of France, the 10 tracks, all penned by the guitarist, evoke gentle pastoral moods captured in titles such as ‘Verveine’ and ‘Bicycle’. But though melodicism is to the fore, as is Santiago Arias's bandoneon, there's rarely a suggestion of easy listening – perhaps that's where the influence of the titular absinthe comes in, with the hint of a hangover present in the pleasingly labyrinthine intricacy of ‘Étude’. Miller, confining himself to nylon- and steel-string acoustic guitars here, has been in Sting's band for three decades (he's also worked with Phil Collins, Level 42, Backstreet Boys and many more). Like the former Police man, he knows a thing or two about how to write a catchy tune and – dig those carefully achieved breathlike explosive expansions on ‘Ombu’ – how to endow a sense of deep peace with real dynamism.