The Leaf Lab

Such is the inability to properly define the work of Bill Wells that he's connected to everyone from Sun Ra to Ennio Morricone. And yes, both references, and all in between, hold fast. Wells is the go-to man in the Glasgow scene for superior arrangements, having worked with Belle & Sebastian, The Pastels, Arab Strap, Future Pilot AKA, Telstar Ponies...the list goes on. Pick Up Sticks is a collaboration between Wells, storied trombonist Annie Whitehead and To Rococo Rot's Stefan Schneider, with contributions from Berlin-based singer-songwriter Barbara Morgenstern. The recordings were mainly improvised in a Berlin studio over five days of sessions, engineered by Tarwater's Bernd Jestram. It sees Wells moving away from his piano-based work with the emphasis shifting to a warm, engaging group sound, coloured with the tonality of Whitehead's trombone and Schneider's distinctive electronic vocabulary.

Triosk pianist Adrian Klumpes' debut solo album. Like a Rothko canvas, Be Still is minimal and introspective, yet rich and intense; a rush of colour from a deliberately limited palette. As Klumpes explains: "Minimalism assumes much more involved actions before and after the event". As a result, the album is vested with a range of emotion: feelings of violence, relief, loneliness, pain and finality are integral to the recordings. Recorded in a single five-hour session in Klumpes' hometown of Sydney, all the sounds were captured in the same room, with the same mics, using the same piano. Simultaneously premeditated and spontaneous, the recordings strive for an edgy tranquility.