Formed in Bristol UK in 2020, the Tara Clerkin Trio - as it somewhat democratically exists today, despite the singular authority implied by its name - consists of the titular Tara Clerkin, her partner Sunny Joe Paradisos, and Sunny's brother, Patrick Benjamin.

With two extraordinary mini-albums - In Spring (2021) and On The Turning Ground (2023) - making a splash on London's formidable World of Echo label in wake of their self-titled 2020 debut, this upcoming Somewhere Good LP is, in many ways, the band's most realised work.

In running their usual gauntlet of idiosyncratic approaches, Clerkin & co. color in and outside of compositional lines over the course of 40+ celebratory minutes - never wallowing, despite inherently somber subject matters of self-defeat, disease, displacement, restlessness, gentrification - allowing their arrangements and improvisations ample space and time to situate, stretch out, breathe, cross-pollinate, and ultimately take deeper hold on the listener's imagination - all while somehow sounding more like themselves than ever before.

Of course, there are traceable influences herein, amongst them the nod to a once known "Bristol sound", ie the whole trip-hop trip, the pastoral crooning over the suggestive urban grime of cracked electro/piano treatments, the digitally-yet-primitively reconstructed James Bond soundtrack string-beats, etc..

But the Tara Clerkin Trio is so infinitely much more than that. There are elements of avant-pop, modern classical, kraut-folk, audio verité, shoegaze and indie.

Imagine a world in which High Llamas cut a full-length for Warp Records with Andrew Weatherall and Belinda Butcher on coffee duty.

The hazy, unmappable skyline-mirage of droning harmonium, upright bass, peculiarly accentuated wind instruments, acoustic guitar, hushed yet literally mighty keys combine to hypnotizing effect.

Beneath the janky samples and oddball percussive embellishment lies actually great drumming.

Beyond the manipulated vocal witchery and woefully reflective plain-spoke moments are Tara's subtly inspired melodies.

A calming consistency throughout the otherwise unpredictably dynamic, boldly intuitive, uniquely British exploration of the trio's own universe in song.