Polar Bear – In Each and Every One

While previous release Peepers was hardly an uncomplicated affair, Polar Bear’s fifth album sees Seb Rochford and company pushing their envelope further. Their iconoclastic sound remains rooted in jazz, but with musical stolons creeping their way into all sorts of testing territories.

The range of contrasting dynamics is staggering: on amorphous opener Open See, a bubbling ambience intermittently gives way to alien whale song; on Be Free, fluttering sax tickles the synapses while erratic electronics mischievously throws things cock-a-hoop; on Life and Life, cymbals shatter and hiss till they’re overcome by a thrumming rumble, building to an almighty racket; and on Maliana, primal polyrhythms fade in and out, restoring the meter when the rest of the components threaten to get too abstract. If that sounds a little exhausting then that’s because, consumed uninterrupted, it kind of is. But it’s also strikingly adventurous and sharp-minded, and therefore fully worth the commitment. [Chris Buckle]