The writing is so strong from Cornwall, now Leicester, bassist Mark Trounson. Flicking through the tunes they all work. If you like Daniel Casimir's sound when the erstwhile Brum scene don goes more retro bop then this isn't far away and just as good in its own right. The arranging involving very woody textures on 'Eagle' the blend of reedist Ronan Perrett and saxist Rob Griffin against modern-ish Rhodes type electric piano from Jacky Naylor.

Rod Oughton - remember OK Aurora - on drums takes a Jeff Williams approach on 'Keyboard Warriors'. 'Half Irish' begins with a rhumba type drum part and then lonesome clarinet sliding into a leisurely reupholstered reel-type figure.

A peculiar name for a record Malus and Clawback - probably barking up the wrong tree but it can be understood as a legal term involved with, according to Lexisnexis, ''withholding or even recovering value from executives if a material adverse event occurs following the award of performance-related pay is now viewed as best market practice.''

Clear as mud then m'lud. The piece whether anything to do with the law or not has a wistful Dankworthian sense that is very appealing ruling the roost. Lapping piano and savoury flatted notes in the horns move into the mystic and the new melodic. The sound is not at all glossy and trounces all sense of the clinical. The band eventually grooves on 'Butterflies' (from the 2''30' mark) - and that's the added value when that happens out of the blue.

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