There’s something mysterious about the music of Eivind Aarset. It certainly doesn’t fit any set categories although it’s usually lumped in with jazz and improvised music.

The Norwegian guitarist, best known over here for his work with Andy Sheppard, thrives on texture and the possibilities a coating of electronics provides. And certainly there is a soundscape-flavouring to many of his records and I.E. has this even more than earlier album Dream Logic perhaps, this new record more prog-like with a loose floaty ambient feel to it.

Aarset is joined by bassist Audun Erlien and drummers Wetle Holte and Erland Dahlen (the latter also adding dulcimers and glockenspiels), with live sampling from Jan Bang adding a veneer of crackles and buzzy industrial noise and a vocal spot from Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari plus a brass section among the other contributions.

Aarset has described the album which is full of his own compositions as based on experiences of the live line-up over the last five years, with “a rougher edge” than his previous work and that “roughness” approximates to a certain noir-like ominous undertow. The feeling that there is as much unsaid as openly expressed is the most appealing aspect of this highly imaginative but slightly elusive album.

The three part ‘Wanderlust’ is where I’ll be returning to most where a driving fusion energy emerges via a memorable riff you might hear the likes of Tinariwen conjure up, a volatile highly combustible assortment of guitar and rhythm allowing plenty of sparks to fly. ‘Rask’, the first track on the album is above. Aarset, top, is over in December playing east London venue Rich Mix with Anneli Drecker on 11 December.