Everything that's appeared on Yannis Kyriakides' Unsounds label has been excellent, and the same can be said of this fine release by this quartet consisting of Cor Fuhler (piano), Thomas Lehn (analog synth), Rhodri Davies (harp) and John Butcher (saxophones) – another great ego trip title for Fuhler too.. after Corkestra and Cortet, what next? A Cor-ncerto?

It's been my experience that the musicians who pull off the restrained stuff best are those who don't necessarily spend all their lives playing it; readers of these pages will be familiar with the extraordinary diversity of the recorded outputs of Messrs Fuhler, Lehn and Butcher, and it would also be a mistake to associate Davies exclusively with the so-called New London Silence scene he helped instigate (check out Vortices & Angels, or the first Cranc album). What also sets these guys apart from many other tootlers and flutterers out there is that they have at their disposal an awesome command of conventional instrumental technique that allows them to respond in a split second to nuances of pitch and timbre that less technically adept players would otherwise miss. Wait a sec, did he say "pitch"? What's pitch doing in the brave new world of post-onkyo improv, you might ask? Well check out the pitch play on "TH" and "HN" if you don't believe finding and playing the right note is important anymore. Fuhler's tiny chordal cells – the influence of Feldman, via Tilbury?– intersect with Butcher's characteristically pristine multiphonics to perfection. Davies is the model of discretion throughout, and Lehn proves once again that his trusty old EMS is capable of far more than the explosive splats of noise it's best known for (Tom and Gerry, Bart, both on Erstwhile..).

HHHH is an album of great maturity and fantastic musicality – here's hoping there's more to come from these particular line-up before too long.