Right from the start you feel the originality of this amazing release from Slovenian guitarist Samo Salamon in collaboration with percussionist Asaf Sirkis. ‘Shattered’ opens with rigorous, methodical arpeggios on banjo, somehow melding clawhammer style with contemporary minimalism, but as the meticulous tiskering of Sirkis’ percussion slowly intensifies Salamon's playing disintegrates into coruscating bebop banjo - surely the first time those three words have come together.

Starting with London-based Sirkis’ pre-recorded percussion, the multi-instrumental Salamon composed and recorded the album's eight original tracks in Maribor, Slovenia. Given that process, the resulting diversity of music is very impressive, ranging from the loosely crowded freedom of ‘All Is Vanity’ to the smoother and tidier ‘Rickety Stool’. The extremes are represented by ‘Song of The Woods’, an infuriatingly catchy earworm on acoustic guitar (complete with cheesy bassline and soft rock guitar solo) and the starker ‘Some Mistake’ which closes the album with a one-to-one guitar/drums thrash-off so well co-ordinated it's hard to believe the two weren't in the studio together to record it.

Above all, Salamon has claimed a distinctive new voice for the banjo in contemporary jazz here, led by his insight into saxophonists Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy. His judicious contrast of tone and style with acoustic and electric guitars gives him a fine colour palette which he uses well to reflect or contrast with Sirkis’ typically intriguing percussion ideas. You have to wonder what Asaf Sirkis would play if re-presented with these instrumental tracks without his pre-recorded contribution… perhaps there's a follow-up concept there?