Some composers use electronics to suggest other worlds; some to reinforce the materialistic, mechanical drives of this world. Donnacha Dennehy (b1970) is emphatically in the second camp: all six works on this disc come across as streetwise, soulless, hymning the urban jungle and having nothing to do with pastoral escapism, nostalgia or spirituality.

Technically, the level of accomplishment is high, at least when relatively small ensembles are involved. But Elastic Harmonic for violin and orchestra (2005) is relentlessly dense. It’s described as “gentle and lush” in Bob Gilmore’s notes, but “harsh and raucous” seem better terms for this close-up radio recording. I got much more out of the restricted palette employed in pAt for piano and tape (2001): here there’s some depth beneath the patterned surface, some space around the sounds, an attractive play between embracing and resisting the siren-like power of fixed points for both pitch and tempo.

The beginning of Glamour Sleeper (2002) suggests a style that is aiming to project the kind of blithe accessibility found in Adams and Andriessen back onto the harsher, mythic world of Birtwistle. As the works proceed, Gilmore’s diagnosis of a “strange marriage” of rock guitar playing and French spectralism becomes more plausible. Phrases like “spiky and playful”, “good-natured”, “infectiously upbeat”, “a bit tongue-in-cheek” sum up Gilmore’s reaction: “heartless and oppressive” sums up mine. But pAt is a sufficiently striking exception to show that Dennehy is already a composer to be reckoned with, and that he could yet tap into the kind of range and resonance to be found in the best contemporary music.