Japanese pianist and composer Takase is joined here by a chamber-trio of French jazz virtuosi – Louis Sclavis (reeds), Dominique Pifarely (violin) and Vincent Courtois (cello) – on music written for a mythical novel by her compatriot and friend Yoko Tawada. Though there's plenty of improvisation, the music often sounds contemporary-classical in tone and rhythm, often suggesting the soundtrack for a ballet or the animation of a manga cartoon. The group is light, agile and daring, tonally fastidious in its handling of lyrical passages, but always open to the explosive intervention. Some of Takase's 15 short pieces are reticent, some are brisk dances, some are dark and shrouded – and the closing sections also include older works by Takase and her German pianist husband, Alex von Schlippenbach. There are delicate reveries such as the conversational Into The Woods, and spiky episodes such as Rouge Stone, a minute-long eruption of slurred strings sounds and banging piano chords. Turtle Mirror (with its racing cello part and huffing clarinet) or the title track with its rocking piano hook, running-feet rhythms and twitching, scary-movie chords, are the kind of sophisticated, exciting and accessible pieces of contemporary chamber-music this unusual set buzzes with.