The Australian post-fusion acoustic piano trio return to the studio for the first time since Fact Finding Mission from 2012. It's their fifth album to date and debut for the Dutch label Challenge, with all previous CDs released on the UK's NAIM label. It's worth perhaps drawing a parallel with another release, Partikel's Counteraction reviewed this month, if only in that Trichotomy have similarly taken first steps towards integrating electronica without disturbing the fertile trio ensemble dialogue they've been developing since forming back in Brisbane in 1990. Of course EST have been there and done it, and Trichotomy are obvious inheritors but the band has a depth of vision that transcends its influences. A low-key infusion of pedal effects, looped samples and ambient effects are woven into the tightly-knit texture of a band that draws from ambient classical music, jazz-rock and pastoral Pat Metheny-esque lyricism. Even though the music can sometimes veer into slightly saccharine territory, Trichotomy carry everything off with an elegant heart-on-sleeve lyricism and intense collective chemistry (they're reared on the sound of compatriots The Necks), so that you don't even notice. Phronesis and Neil Cowley Trio fans might want to take note before Trichotomy disappear off the radar again.