It’s a given that Nils Petter Molvær (or NPM) is recognised as a serial collaborator, but there’s nothing in the vistas of the trumpeter’s back catalogue that quite prepares us for Certainty of Tides. Molvaer has given over half a dozen songs, including such familiar pieces as ‘Kakonita’, to a range of Norwegian arrangers to recreate with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. And don’t underestimate the presence of producer Jan Bang, who’s probably done more to disestablish notions of ‘genre’ in music than even Molvaer himself.

Bang brings a depth and spaciousness to the orchestra that offers an almost Mahler-like dynamic range. ‘Kakonita’ for example, benefits from a big brass bed of chordal tones beneath NPM’s lustrous voicings. Like ‘Kakonita’, ‘Maja’ is arranged by Jan Martin Smordal, again with a spaciousness and hold-your-breath sense of silence that makes NPM’s trumpet more ethereal than ever.

NPM’s debt to Jon Hassell is evident throughout, but cuts like ‘Sabakh’ also remind us of the genius of John Barry’s ‘The Beyondness of Things’, while fans of Botti’s buttery tones or Baker’s heartache, listeners who wouldn’t necessarily think of themselves as NPM fans, may want to check out The Certainty of Tides.