Kit Downes was lobbed rather prematurely into the Mercury prize last year, where his thoughtful piano-playing duly failed to wow the rock crowd. This second album is a more expansive statement. What strikes you first are the big, bluesy pieces — Frizzi Pazzi and Tambourine — that recall Keith Jarrett’s American quartet. But Downes broadens his palette with cello and saxophone; the squawks of Wooden Birds soon pall but his quirky title track and the glacial blues Skip James are both charmers.
(Basho; out now)