Chemist is the 13th release from Australian maverick trio The Necks, now approaching their 20th Anniversary, and still occupying a genre-group of one. Their slow, gripping, development of a single idea over the length of a whole CD, while somehow obvious, has proved un-copyable, mostly because it so much depends on the unique musical personalities and extreme virtuosity of these three, profoundly different, musicians.

Having established their theme, The Necks, with Chemist, break the habit of a lifetime and juxtapose three 20-minute tracks. Bassist Lloyd Swanton, pre-empting his critics, wrote: "We just wanted to see what we could do by contrasting different aesthetics on a single CD. These pieces are calculatedly different, and the contrast is important".

Perhaps they were hoping with this minor scandal to draw attention away from the guitar, played by drummer Tony Buck, which features on all three tracks. Another major break with tradition?

Our commercial department has, however, extensively road tested this departure from niche on a selection of fanatical Necks purists and, so far, it does seem to be working. This new release comes hot on the heels of the band winning the Bell Australian Jazz Award for the second year running, and their third APRA Award.