With a pair of albums – Variations and 2010's The Gentle War, the latter especially exhilarating and serene in equal measure – already under their belt, the Brisbane-based Trichotomy have proved that piano trio jazz from the land down under doesn't just stop at The Necks. Together now for 13 years, Trichotomy display something of the three-as-one intimacy and trance-like minimalism of their Aussie compatriots, but the admiration is from a distance. The pianist-composer Sean Foran (who has studied on a post-graduate jazz course at Leeds College of Music) has strong classical music roots that are far more lyrically shapely and melodious, and as far as contemporary piano trios go Trichotomy sound closer in spirit to the likes of Avishai Cohen, EST, Tord Gustavsen or Phronesis. But the trio has come up with something a bit different on their third album to date. It's down to the contribution of a few special guests marking not only a broader sonic palette but also diversification in terms of the range of influences compared to previous albums. We hear southern Indian and east European melody feature in a pair of themes upon the involvement of percussionist Tunji Beier and bass clarinettist Linsey Pollak, who make up the Australian musically nomadic folk group DVA. The other guest, the guitarist James Muller with his Pat Metheny and Kurt Rosenwinkelish leanings, tends to be a less vital addition to the group aesthetic on the few tracks he appears on. While a band pushing out into unexplored areas and discovering new colours is generally to be welcomed, the tracks featuring outside contributions don't reach the highly engaging peaks of collective energy that the rest of the album achieves when the trio is in full flow, responding only to one other.

Jazzwise talks to pianist Sean Foran about the album

The guest musicians on Fact Finding Mission suggest there's been new inspiration and some change in the approach for the band this time out?

Since the last album we've been playing a stack of gigs around Australia plus some tours abroad. It's been a heap of fun but we wanted to stretch ourselves more and we definitely kept coming back to the concept of collaborating with various artists as a way of pushing ourselves musically as composers, but also giving audiences something new to experience with the group. We thought about the best way to approach a focused plan of collaborations. What came out of it was a series of gigs with String Quartet, a duo called DVA – which consists of these fantastic self-made reed instruments and various percussion, a guitarist and a video artist. For us it's a great representation of the past year of work and has allowed us to explore some different sounds in the writing and playing.

Although it's not immediately evident from the new recording, were the piano trio The Necks ever a big influence on Trichotomy?

Absolutely. Yes our music is completely different, but their approach to improvisation collectively, control, texture, dynamics and trio unity have been massive influences on us as a group and certainly on me personally. We did go through a time where we would rehearse and just completely improvise for an hour or so. That's the big thing about the trio. It's got to sound like three minds creating this one sound, with each part contributing something different, but vital to the overall effect.

Can you tell me a bit about the intentions behind the title track with its ‘politician’ spoken word samples?

It's composed by our drummer John Parker. I think it's an ode to one of his favourite pieces of spin from the contemporary lexicon. The term ‘fact finding mission’ elicits a sense of focussed determination to discover the truth. Whether that truth be about corruption in government, imaginary Weapons of Mass Destruction or whom so neglected to put the bins out on Sunday night. We are all on our own personal journeys of enlightenment and whether the facts we discover are real or inventions, is of no real consequence to the outcome. One should never let the truth get in the way of a good story.