Leicester native Marcus Joseph has already racked up a wide-ranging set of musical experiences, from youth orchestras to stints as hip-hop DJ and MC to fronting nu-jazz crossover band Major Ruse. This is his sophomore album, a big ambitious project combining breezy major key melodies, jazzy solos, lush strings, spoken word, and punchy grooves courtesy of Sons of Kemet team members Theon Cross and Eddie Hicks.

Some of the music fits into the Kemet mould: on Arrival Of The Giants' a driving dembow from Cross and Hicks serves as a base for raggedly energetic horn charts and some enthusiastic blowing. It's nice to hear veteran Tony Kofi tearing it up on baritone alongside the young bloods on ‘Challenge Day’, while Cross sibling Nathaniel takes honours on trombone for the reggae flavoured ‘Old Flame’. Other tracks are built on the lush chording of Lorenz Okell-Osengor's Rhodes and Wayne Matthews' bass guitar for a more retro jazz-funk flavour, with Ife Ogunjobi busting out some neat be-bop chops on ‘Puzzle Paradigm' alongside Josephs’ brightly acerbic alto sax. ‘What If’ adds strings and guest vocalist Randolph Matthews for a nu-jazz/soul crossover with conscious lyrics dealing with themes of ancestry and self-empowerment.

This album takes its place beside Seed Ensemble's Driftglass, Sons Of Kemet's Your Queen Is A Reptile and Zara McFarlane's Songs Of An Unknown Tongue as part of the emergent sound of UK jazz and is a worthy addition to that company,