The moods and movements of an English estuary can be heard running through a stunning and deeply intriguing new album from the electronic duo Ultramarine. Flowing and mutating as it transitions from an Essex river into the open sea, the Blackwater Estuary, north of London inspired this beguiling collection of hypnotic jazz, itching electronica and softly dazzling ambient shapes.

“There’s a very distinctive feel to the Blackwater Estuary, it’s almost Dickensian,” explains Paul Hammond, one half of Ultramarine. “It’s a very quiet, rural area with these mud flats everywhere – I think the river ended up seeping into our music.” Paul and his musical partner Ian Cooper went to school in Maldon, Essex, at the head of the Blackwater Estuary, the stretch of water that inspired their shimmering, mysterious and gently meandering upcoming album Send and Return.

They began making music together in the 80s, releasing Ultramarine’s debut album Folk on Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscule in 1990. Over the next decade or so, they recorded two John Peel sessions, collaborated with Robert Wyatt, toured the States with Orbital, then Europe with Björk. After a hiatus, they began recording again in Ian’s home studio, overlooking the Blackwater.