If you wanted to create a list of the 10 most exciting new-ish jazz bands on the UK scene at the moment – oh Binker & Moses, Empirical, Snowpoet, Exodus, Malija, Nérija, Sons of Kemet, Polar Bear, Phronesis would all be there, as would Mammal Hands who return with Floa to be released on 25 May. Listen to Hourglass from the album above 

The Norwich band surface this chilly late spring whip Smart as ever, stick with me, remaining on the roster of Matthew Halsall's Gondwana label, two years on from their excellent first statement of massive intent Animalia. Nick Smart (no not the Trogon trumpeter/academic) on piano, Jesse Barrett, drums and percussion, and Nick’s brother Jordan, saxophone, make up the band the style running the gamut of music from the minimalism of Steve Reich to the dance ecstasy of Cinematic Orchestra with dollops of world music and a sense of English pastoral melancholia all of their own thrown in for good measure. Above all they have band instinct, they finish their own musical sentences, look at each other in the eye, anticipate the direction of the music and run with it. 

They’re touring in May... full details via the Mammal Hands site.