The 43-year-old Norwegian bassist Mats Eilertsen is one of the most experienced, go-to musicians of his generation, having worked with the likes of Alex Tuomorila, Jacob Young, Food and Tord Gustavsen, among others. But a strong run of solo releases of late has rightly enhanced his reputation as a leader-composer as well. Eilertsen’s large ensemble Rubicon made waves with their majestic self-titled ECM release in 2016. Members of that group include the elegantly less-is-more Dutch pianist Harmen Fraanje and top-class compatriot drummer Thomas Strønen, who make up Eilertsen’s regular trio on this new CD that follows Elegy in 2010 and Sails Set in 2013, both on the influential Norwegian indie Hubro. And Then Comes the Night is a low-lights, tranquil affair but an appreciably warm, upbeat quality oozes from Eilertsen’s dreamily melodic originals that distinguishes his work – Rubicon was similar in this respect – from many of his Norwegian peers. On ‘Perpetum’ a gently low-key percussive African vibe finds the soulful pianist Fraanjie joining the dots between Alice Coltrane and Bill Evans, and once again for the superb title-track. Faint echoes of bassist Avishai Cohen’s writing emerges on ‘After the Rain’, and you can imagine Tomasz StaŠko would have enthusiastically added his trumpet to ‘The Void’, while ‘Soften’ comes close to an understated, jazzily interactive take on the Neil Cowley Trio. What’s more, this group’s mutual understanding and flexibility in terms of traditional roles makes for intimate meaningful dialogue rather than mere ‘ambient’ effect.