Tut Vu Vu – Slow Sound Horn EP

Footsteps on a wooden floor. Then a drifting backbeat leads into schizoid trumpet and a decidedly unsettling organ motif. Suddenly, ‘Gallic psyche noir’ is a genre. This is Lynch, the opening track of the Glasgow-based ensemble’s debut, six-track EP for JAS POW, a collective formed by Django Django’s Dave Maclean and The Phantom Band’s Andy Wake. It’s a singular work that takes a free jazz foundation as its starting point and adds various layers of artful exploration that could be more readily interpreted as dicking around.

In the words of an accompanying text on the back of their vinyl sleeve (penned by our own former Theatre editor), mindful of the critic’s response, “bland documentation” is rejected and “flights of fancy will not do.” Touché. Aside from this posturing, the Slow Sound Horn EP is accomplished enough to (probably) not be a joke, diverting enough to warrant much more than a cursory glance. But like most provocateurs, they'll leave you unsure as to whether they’re laughing with you, or at you.