The Bristol-based BLOOM collective is a network of remarkably open-minded young musicians whose various incarnations include Japanese art-pop, contemporary neo-classical music and Ethiofunk (as well as the mighty drum and sax outfit Run Logan Run).

A key member of several of these projects, percussionist Harriet Riley has established herself as a distinctive composer and player, notably of marimba and vibraphone. Violinist Alex Garden emerged from the nearby Mendips as a young folk prodigy, half of acclaimed duo The Drystones. Working together, their genre-defying acoustic music was first revealed in 2020’s Sonder and is now further extended in a second 12-track album that roams freely across and between baroque, folk, minimalism and jazz.

Much of the music is tightly written, as in the interweaving violin and vibraphone melodies of opening track 'Resfeber' or the jaunty post-baroque dance that emerges from the gloomy atmospherics of 'Syzygy'. The latter gains much from the flawless underpinning of Stevie Toddler’s bass, as does the more plangent ballad 'Palindrome I', the first of three ‘reversible’ compositions on the album. Guest contributor Pete Judge from Get The Blessing adds lugubrious flugelhorn to 'Tryst', a rhythmically complex music box piece whose relentlessness recalls Bristol’s avant-folk heroes Spiro, but it’s possibly the quietly deconstructed duet 'Apricity' that stands out both for the melodic lilt and the delicate precision of the playing. Harriet Riley and Alex Garden may have borrowed Will Self’s dictionary to name their tunes but the sound they make is very much their own.