THE COLOURS OF CHLOË

With The Colours of Chloë, Eberhard Weber confronts the listener with a curious sound that feels less like jazz-rock fusion and more like some strange breed of ambient jazz which regularly fades into and out of more conventional ECM-ish sounds. The absence of guitar, in particular, distances itself from the bulk of jazz fusion (can you imagine Mahavishnu Orchestra without guitar?), but the pulsating bass lines Eberhard lays down provides a foundation for some downright frenetic playing from the rest of the band. With driving rhythms on the title track reminding me at points of some of the more esoteric moments of the Canterbury scene - it puts me in mind of Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt in particular, and I've never heard anything which quite sounds like Rock Bottom - it's an intriguing album and a sorely underrated one at that.