Wako are a youthful-looking four-piece that originated at Trondheim University, the finishing school of Norway’s pioneering brand of millennial post-jazz. Now on their fourth album, they are part of a new generation neither as deeply infused with electronica, avant-noise or prog as their predecessors yet still restlessly concerned with idiomatic mashups and originality. Wako is a freely improvising acoustic setup working within a contemporary compositional framework, picking its way in and out of minimalistic electronic-type textures, freeform jazz and alt-rock among other elements but achieving a cohesive sound all the same.

The opener betrays a Brad Mehldau Highway Rider-period influence in its plaintive piano vamp and pastoral strings, and Oslo Strings make a similarly creative contribution to a few other pieces. Any hints of Nordic meditative pose are regularly interrupted by energetic hammering rhythms, the excellent Kjetil Mulelid’s sometimes Jarrett-inspired piano, and off-kilter post-Ornette themes that release some freewheeling playing from saxophonist Martin Olsen. A standout track ‘Trakterer du Musikk’ – that includes a contribution from influential guest trumpeter Arve Henriksen - is built on a mesmerising groove that invokes something of late 1970s Bowie or Finnish jazz-exotica saxophonist Jimi Tenor. It might be dizzily diverse in places, but there’s still heaps of bright ideas and fresh-sounding jazz here.