Trio of Uncertainty: Unlocked

There are frequent passages on which the three could be playing a contemporary composition rather than improvising. Largely, this is due to Satoko Fukada's classically trained violin. So, on "For This Were A Dream" she draws forth a flowing mournful melody, replete with glissandi, while pianist Veryan Weston and cellist Hannah Marshall effectively fall into the role of accompanists. "Lost Ballad & Antidote begins in a similar vein; however—crucially—midway through it morphs into an equal three-way exchange that ebbs and flows before boiling up into a climax that could be nothing but improvised.

Indeed, once one gets beyond the surface sound of the trio, the music reveals all the pleasures of great improv; the lightning-fast reflex exchanges on the all-too-brief "Hypnogogia" contrast with the far longer "Unhinged," where ideas unfold at a more deliberate (even stately) pace before accelerating to a series of rapid exchanges followed by a moving funereal finale.

Throughout, the common features are the compatibility and empathy of the players, combined with a steady flow of ideas between them. The CD's front cover photo shows a peeling door that is unbolted and ajar, revealing a dreamlike pastoral landscape beyond, which features cotton wool clouds reflected in the tranquil surface of a river. Somehow, very fitting to the mood conjured up by the music.

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