I thought that the boundaries between all musical forms had been long settled by the UN, following the great rap-rock intifada of the early 1990s.  Then along comes this new album from the New Jazz Ensemble.  New Jazz Ensemble?  This is jazz?  Well, Victor Sjoberg seems to think so: “This is a jazz album and I hope you enjoy it”, he says, neatly circling his eight metre high wall to capture areas within the territories of ambient drone and electro-acoustic improvisation.

The entire first half of Do Nothing ‘Til You Hear From Me is taken up by the epic languidity of the title track.  Small swatches of field recordings and distant-sounding instrumentation are hung upon a background of pulsing, gently shifting semi-diaphanous drone, giving just enough colour to sustain intense interest over its half-hour duration.  Midway through some guitar surfaces along with a brief trumpet melody and keyboard chords.  At this point, it feels like the piece is being brought towards the areas inhabited by the likes of Tape and Radian, but it simply floats off again on the breeze, before recovering its thoughts in an ending illuminated by some Fennesz-like granulated guitar. The amusingly entitled “Freee?  I Can’t Even Spell The Word” hangs in the air like vapour, a gentle high-pitched burble overshadowing the merest implication of a tune.  “Steppers” sparkles like a suspended piece of coloured glass in a window frame, gently turning in the draught, until someone thinks about playing an acoustic guitar.  Just thinks about it.

Sjoberg also points out that “this is not one of those tired testosterone-fuelled free jazz records”.  You may have gathered that.  It is however a thing of great beauty and deceptive simplicity, two ideals well worth fighting for.  And speaking of iDEAL…