Sleeper Independent release***

Flook's flute player, Brian Finnegan, and Lau's fiddler, Aidan O'Rourke, have saddled up together to make some distinctive, if detached, music. Taking their name from the Mayan calendar's reference to new beginnings, Kan seek out space where their alter-egos might have favoured more sonic clutter. They're joined on guitar by Ian Stephenson and drums/percussion by Jim Goodwin (of Manchester's Hallé Orchestra). Unsurprisingly, jazz-tinged rhythms colour Finnegan's flute, though at times the percussion can be somewhat lumbering, as on Marcos, dragging the melody lines where they might otherwise have sparked more energetically. Aidan O'Rourke's fiddle is particularly fleet of foot, but at times the arrangements cry out for a more assertive fiddle line to counter Finnegan's flute scribblings. An interesting taster of what Kan hint may be a more compelling presence in a live setting. kan-music.co.uk