Elephant9 have been presenting their freshly invigorating contemporary spin on the Hammond B3-led ensemble tradition ever since emerging amid a surge of long-haired, feral, kick-ass Norwegian nu-prog bands around the 2010s. But the Supersilent keys man Ståle Storløkken and his trio are less full blast on Mythical River than earlier recordings, although they had already been slightly mellowing on their most recent album Arrival of the new Elders Land, issued in 2021.

Merging elements from the likes of tripped-out Krautrock, Post-mod Small Faces, Syd Barrett’s Floyd-ish psych-rock, Eno-esque ambience and the outlier Hammond jazz of Larry Young and Medeski, Martin and Wood ‘Jam band’ aesthetics, through to jazz-rock’s abstract Bitches Brew-like textures and Mahavishnu - minus the baroque pyrotechnics – Elephant9 still sound like they were brought up on nu-metal and contemporary electronica as much as those more retro sounds.

The new album’s sophistication and electric-fuelled thrills lie in the parts where Storløkken stretches the analogue sonic world and textural range of the Hammond B3 to its limits on a set of tuneful originals, while bass and drums lock horns for some ferociously compact grooves.

Anyone, including this scribe, who’s ever been to any of their dynamite concerts might believe live performance to be this music’s natural environment, but the new recording shouldn’t disappoint the true disciples.