There’s a lot to be said for this pan-European free-jazz quartet’s debut – not least the opportunity to hear veteran British drummer Paul Hession putting the boot in. Always a thrillingly bullish improviser, he’s on slamming form here, with an unbridled energy that lifts the collective endeavour to dizzy heights. Yet, at the same time, there’s a vein of restraint and consideration for form running through the entire date. Rather than epic, extended blow-outs, Mole negotiate 10 short pieces – most of them around the three-minute mark – which wring a range of contrasting moods out of the quartet’s quite basic instrumentation. ‘Albert’ is a joyful, Ayler-esque fanfare; ‘Birdwatcher’ is an atmospheric creep with arco growl, overblown horns and subtle mallet-and-tom work; ‘Fall In’ offers up a neanderthal stomp-thump with altissimo horns firing off like cheap fireworks; and ‘Automatic Mat Mat’ hunkers down into stonking riffage worthy of The Thing. As an exercise in exploring the possibilities of creative limitation, Mole is a big success.