Imprint ECM***

With a repertoire almost wholly consisting of terse, often ostinato-driven originals, pianist and composer Julia Hülsmann's latest album provides ample space for wide-ranging dialogue between herself, bassist Marc Muellbauer and drummer Heinrich Köbberling. Yetwhat emerges seems slightly schizoid. While the group's restrained, closely focused probing of Rond Point, Storm in a Teacup and K auf dir einen bunten Luftballonis absorbing and beguilingly melodic, it restricts exploration of other aspects of the trio's potential. In its understated way, the group seems most to come into its own when its natural, swinging assertiveness is allowed to develop out of the music's flow. Pieces as varied as A Light Left On, Lulu's Paradise, Ulmenwall, Zahlen bitteand, above all, (Go and Open) The Doorshow there is more to this fine trio's aesthetic than restraint. See classical.ie