Ancora

After early success with three albums that positioned them as a force to be reckoned with, Flook went silent in the studio and disbanded for a five-year stretch before reassembling in 2013. A near decade and a half since 2005's Haven, the follow up Ancora finds the fab Anglo-Irish four returning to flex musical muscles with a confidence and élan hard to resist. Taking its title from Michelangelo's 87th birthday declaration ‘Ancora impara’ (‘I am yet learning’) – ancora also translating as ‘hope’ or ‘again’ – it serves a vibrant reminder of just how good this crack quartet are.

The sense of ensemble is even stronger, more elastic and intricate than before. Brian Finnegan and Sarah Allen's twin flutes and whistles, Ed Boyd's guitar and the bodhrán of John Joe Kelly mesh together with the mathematical precision of poetry bolstered by bursts of drama. Adding idiosyncratic tones to the already rich palette of colours are Mark Tucker's theremin on the closing pairing of Zoë Conway's ‘Ómós Sheamuis’ and John McSherry's ‘The Quickenbeam’, Melvin Ifill's steel drums on ‘The Coral Castle’ and Matthias Loibner's evocative hurdy-gurdy on two tracks. Boyd and Tucker's production perfectly frames a veteran outfit doing what they do best.