Jon Thorne / Danny Thompson - Watching The Well (Naim Edge)

Plenty of people try and pull together different genres but it’s hard to do it well. But on this lustrous collaboration - first performed live as a jazz suite in 2007 but only now finally released - Lamb’s Jon Thorne and veteran bass player Danny Thompson merge ECM-flavoured jazz, classical and electronica with what seems almost effortless ease.

An album of beautiful textures allied to haunting melodies, the dozen tracks at various points reference the likes of Harold Budd, Johann Johannson, Tomas Stanko and Pat Metheny.

The finest of the longer tracks bring together melancholic strings with delicate spatters of oboe, piano and eerily drifting vocals - the magnificent opener 'The Light That Guides', 'Eicher', 'Molly' and 'Victoria'. And if you want to hear what melancholia sounds like with gentle swing, check 'The Generous Heart' and 'The Tie That Binds'.

There are stunning miniatures too which ooze more quality in 30 seconds than other albums manage in an hour - 'Hesse/Reprise' and 'The Road Home' with their beautiful shimmering guitar, plus the ravishing jazz piano gem that is the all-too-short 'Tom'.

Only a couple of the tracks falter slightly - 'Watching The Well' jarring a little with its rather too-chirpy harp and bass against little keyboard tinkles, and the maudlin 'Lost'. Otherwise this is quietly magnificent.