The departure of pianist Kit Downes and trumpeter Jay Phelps made Empirical a more chamber-jazzy outfit. It didn't soften saxophonist Nathaniel Facey's searing sound, though. Pianist George Fogel augments the quartet on their most eclectic venture yet: a collection of pieces - drawing on contemporary-classical music, jazz and a kind of purified pop and hip-hop - that sometimes step on to the precarious tightrope of musico-philosophical speculation. Tom Farmer's Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say is a Messiaen-inspired otherworld that becomes New York-downtown jazz halfway in. Facey's In the Grill triggers exciting phrase-swaps over Shaney Forbes's hip-hoppish drumming. A Portico-like tranquillity touches Out of Sight, Out of Mind, the bleary Cosmos is like Thelonious Monk and Eric Dolphy mingled, and vibraphonist Lewis Wright's title track unfolds in yearning lines over a pulsating vibes chord, before it turns to a rolling groove. Empirical have become fascinating and fearless, even if they do wear their wiring diagrams on their sleeves at times.

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