It’s tempting to think of this double-horned, sax-and-’bone free-jazz unit as a tribute to – or attempted continuation of – the work of legendary New Thing pioneers, the New York Art Quartet. But, whereas the 1960s progenitors retained a spring-loaded trace of bop agility (made explicit on 1965’s Mohawk, with a title track by Bird), Brazilian saxophonist Ivo Perelman’s peregrinations are more stretched out, even lugubrious by comparison.

Despite the fact that Perelman frequently pushes his tenor into the very highest false upper registers, eliciting lachrymose weeps with a hint of Ayler’s teeth-gnashing vibrato, the four lengthy, 20-plus minute improvisations here somehow feel like the NYAQ at half speed.

Which isn’t to deny that there’s some fine playing on offer. Each extended piece is a dense, episodic journey touching, by turns, on propulsive free-jazz, mutant New Orleans funeral march and more abstruse moments of pure sound experimentation.

Trombonist Ray Anderson is particularly quixotic throughout, belching up toad-like croaks, wet squelches and rambunctious raspberries as though from an inexhaustible internal joke shop. But, on the whole – and like much of Perelman’s work – there’s a slightly standoffish, straight-faced seriousness about the date that’s not entirely welcoming.