I don’t often listen to CDs released on Australian jazz labels but I did come across tripudiis sonis variis from the Melbourne trio Hyperbaroq and was quite intrigued. It’s a set of performances of, mainly, Italian baroque music. Composers such as Monteverdi, Scarlatti and Strozzi feature but there are also a couple of earlier pieces in Latin and Galician and two English songs; one by Henry Purcell and a Robert Johnson setting of Ben Jonson.

This is not your typical HIP baroque performance. Hyperbaroq’s style is highly improvisatory and incorporates a lot of atypical instruments as well as pre-recorded electronics. The results are interesting but the dominant style seems to be a kind of cool jazz sound. This is very evident in their version of Scarlatti’s O Cessate Di Piagarmi; which features saxophone and electric guitar along with vocals. Some other tracks are rather different though. Monteverdi’s Lamento Della Ninfa gets a much more experimental feeling treatment with lots of electronics and the 13th century Galician Ay Ondas Que Eu Vim Veer makes interesting use of nature sounds and electronic effects. There’s also a weirdly boppy but rather enjoyable version of Purcell’s Music for a While. It’s pretty varied though I think I could have used more up tempo, high energy material as it mostly feels pretty relaxed.