This new ABC Classics release is all about Australian composer Christopher Sainsbury’s music for the guitar, played here by Ken Murray. Sainsbury’s a guitarist himself, too, so his exploratory, chromatic musical language naturally falls neatly onto the instrument.

The centrepiece of the album is the fascinating Brackish Songs, with the soprano Merinda Dias-Jayasinha; the liner notes call it “a reflection on the interrelationships of cultures and heritage, place and song, inspired by the mingling of salt and fresh water in mangroves and estuaries”.

What’s so fascinating here is that Dias-Jayasinha isn’t an operatic soprano, but instead is jazz-trained. Sainsbury’s harmonies fit her voice perfectly – there are some gentle, delicate songs here (like Moon in the Seagrass) that I suspect would be completely overpowered by the oomph of an opera singer. Dias-Jayasinha, of course, has vocal power of a different sort – here her voice gives us colour, texture and reflection. Murray’s accompaniment, too, is often much more than just accompaniment, proving an equal partner in these short but evocative works.