The final track on this new trio’s impressive debut is dedicated to saxophonist Tim Berne, which gives a pretty good idea of where it’s coming from: much like the downtown NYC scene that Berne was part of at its apex in the late 1980s, The Exu specialise in sprightly, genre-blurring music that keenly explores diverse influences and methods. Another of bassist Dave Kane’s compositions is dedicated to Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, presenting a grungey rock plod with James Mainwaring letting rip some meaty squeals on baritone sax. Elsewhere there are hints of math-rock in the bullish stumble of ‘Bug Glass,’ and some light-footed free bop on Mainwaring’s ‘Waffles,’ with his sax sliding around over a buoyant walking bass and nippy swing.

While these are all interesting compositional gambits, there are also a handful of group improvisations and it’s here that Norwegian drummer Emil Karlsen injects a certain urgent energy. An increasingly in-demand figure on the UK free-improv scene, Karlsen unfurls a satisfyingly lithe and fluid exuberance on pieces like ‘Pancakes,’ while the simply named ‘Ballad’ is a slow and stately meditation with sighing, barely-there brush work lending it a hushed fragility. Across these dozen short tracks, there’s a lot to savour.