Though their partnership stretches back over a decade, Binker and Moses’ 2015 album, Dem Ones, really established them as names to watch in their own right. The London sax/ drums duo’s debut, coupled with their electrifying live performances, have also earned them a string of high profile awards, including a MOBO, two JazzFM awards, and a Parliamentary Jazz Award 2016.

They visit Birmingham in the run-up to the May release of their second album – a double – entitled Journey To The Mountain Of Forever. It was, like their first album, recorded live in the studio, but as saxophonist Binker explains, “we didn't want to make another Dem Ones.”

How does the new album compare musically/stylistically to its predecessor?
We'd say it’s very different. Dem Ones was a purely improvisational album. The first disk on Journey… is a lot more focused on the tunes being bookended with compositional material. There are still huge chunks of improv on the first disk though. The second disk is directed group improv, so a bunch of musicians in a room with an idea. Dem Ones essentially was a statement, a short, aggressive album. This records basically a story book, with a narrative, characters, places and hidden messages. It’s completely different to the first album. We didn't want to make another Dem Ones. You can still tell its Binker and Moses though.

And we hear there might be a pretty surprising collaboration - any hints?
Oh yeah, I've totally given them away [laughs]. The artists included are Tori Handsley on harp, Evan Parker on saxophones, Sarathy Korwar on tabla, Byron Wallen on trumpet and Yuseef Dayes from Yuseef Kamaal on drums and percussion. To us the surprising collab’ was with Evan. We were just shocked that someone so great liked our music enough to make music with us.

Who are some of the other artists/bands you've played with before going 'duo'?
We've both played with Zara McFarlane for many years. We still do and recently recorded her third album with her. We've worked in each other’s quartets, including past quartets I've led and Moses' Exodus, which is due to release an album this year. As Binker and Moses we've also worked with Simon Ratcliffe from Basement Jaxx. There are plenty of others, too many to mention.

You've both described your JazzFM wins, at the time, as "surreal" - looking back on the night now, how do you feel? Did it take a while to sink in?
This year’s JazzFM awards are just around the corner (25 April 2017) and seeing the nominations brought it all back to us. It was surreal. Looking back we were on a ridiculous set of award wins at that point, we were stunned it was happening. It's impossible to predict that any album will do that, let alone one as non-commercial as Dem Ones. It did take a while to sink in. We'd barely digested the fact that we'd won a MOBO at that point so the JazzFM awards were about as surreal as Luis Bunuel, Dali and e.e.Cummings watching The Holy Mountain on acid.

Binker & Moses play Hare & Hounds on Thursday 30 March.