Like the name Ian Turnbull of Broken Records has chosen for his side project, there are two elements to each track title on this album: one that references a location usually in Edinburgh, another in brackets that hints at a more personal starting point for the music.

And herein lies the beauty of Turnbull's instrumental creations: he finds something that's subtly moving and unexpectedly universal in what was, by his own account, an emotionally turbulent period of his life. Even within each individual piece there is the tension of juxtaposition: the incisive ping of a glockenspiel against the fuzz of guitar on Café Royal (Difficult Conversation) or the undulating drone beneath the organ's spiritual uplift on Kitchen 3.06am (Go To Sleep Little Guy). Textures mix and each track becomes a moment of tangible expression, a collage of sounds and feelings that, even as fragments, connect with the listener. Turnbull has namechecked Gavin Bryars and Brian Eno; I'd place some bits closer to home, near Mogwai's score for The Returned.

Alan Morrison