Album: Plaids, Scintilli (Warp)

Perhaps best known for their work with Björk, the Plaid duo of Ed Handley and Andy Turner may be the quintessential Warp group, in the way that they occupy the grey area between techno, classical and the avant-garde with such apparent ease.

Here, they find unsuspected connections between disparate sounds – the alliance of glockenspiel and synth that sounds like woodwind in the lovely "Craft 9", and the kora-like harp sound and buzzy percussion that lends an ethnic tone to "Founded" while a vocal-like keyboard line floats above. But the best piece here is "Missing", which opens the album with a cyclical piano figure, to which are added further lines of celesta and strings, as it develops depth and texture: by the end, there's a satisfying sense of completion, as if all the missing parts have been found.

DOWNLOAD THIS: Missing; Craft 9; Founded