Pianist Alfa Mist and Drummer Richard Spaven meet as 44th Move producing an almost completely instrumental self-titled project. This gentle work manages in 5 tracks to recount very real emotion confirming the artists’ dedication to the craft. It feels like the musicians have played long enough to musically nuance their feelings with confidence. I really like the maintaining of a subtle tempo throughout; it made the tracks blend nicely. The playing IS technical but in an understated way that makes it accessible.

First track ‘Little Techno’ is an emotional opener that evolves from a small motif into a myriad of ideas in a very short space of time. This is the musical nuancing, as there are certainly some beautiful chords in this piece. ‘Fly’ whilst having airs of broken progressive jazz, was for me, a welcome release from the sometimes obnoxious drum performance found in works considered akin to it.

‘Hope’ featuring melodic trumpeter Takuya Kuroda sees the only spoken dialogue on the record, which then fuses with Takuya’s mute horn in the second half. This track forms a cacophony of sounds and sections that hurtle towards deep fear and manages still to not be overcrowded. There is some really sensitive and purposeful editing work and the lyric ‘You know what? Roll up, so what, don’t get hopes up’ particularly stood out to me. On final tracks ‘Broken’ and ‘Two Nil’ we really get to hear the musicians stretch out and the subtlety of the editing keeps everything feeling organic.

These pieces are lengthy but not self-indulgent, they really create an atmosphere where you are able to think clearly, and certainly the drum work shows that percussion can be melodic and not just dextrous. This project really opens out the spectrum of today’s jazz and I’m really keen to hear more.