Dan Sperber and Luke Casey: Relaxomatic Projections

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald: * * * * )

Sperber and Casey's single Every Day There's Something - as the Relaxomatic Project - became a staple of campus stations two years ago, its light, jazzy grooving such an oasis of difference amidst the other noises that it was immediately enticing. It ended up on a Lazy Sunday compilation, the album title reflecting its natural home.

This excellent new outing consolidates guitarist Sperber and drummer Casey's ambitions in music which is understated and sometimes ephemeral, but also gently exploratory and attractive.

At times Sperber's warm, fluid playing hints at Pat Metheny's style during the most credible points of his commercial period, and the guests - Cherie Mathieson's sensually airy vocals in particular - fit into the "relaxomatic" ethos seamlessly.

The saxophones of Cam Allen and Godfrey De Grut on Every Other Sunday recall parts of Ornette Coleman's lively Virgin Beauty album; Sperber's less-is-more principle works especially well on the breezy Mizrab; the horns are discreet and restrained (the lazy Pre-Loved Goods, and Buttons featuring Mathieson and trumpeter Kingsley Melhuish); Torvill and Dean an exercise in a kind of lo-fi Gregorian chant before embarking on a classical-styled acoustic jaunt; and the brief samples (Norman Kirk on the 35-second sliver Rivermouth Interlude) add extra aural interest.

One that will keep the summer feeling around for a bit longer.

Label: Antenna