Alabaster DePlume: Before a show, I’ll tell the players - The best thing you’ve brought is yourself, and the more of you we can have in the piece the better

Saxophone player Alabaster DePlume changes the line-up of his band before every show to keep him on his toes - “It’s so we don’t have the time to be prepared. When you remove preparation people can’t hide, they have to be authentic and present" - as he's told the Quietus. He has released his new album 'To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1', with no vocal tracks, obviously, because someone had told him - "I put your music on, and it was perfect, but then you started shouting something about a pig. Can’t it just be the nice bits?". The songs were recorded by DePlume and a one-off band consisting of Sarathy Korwar, Donna Thompson, James Howard, The Comet Is Coming’s Dan ‘Danalogue’ Leavers and Snapped Ankles’ Chestnutt. The Q describes the music as "gorgeous and soothing, intimate and direct".