“It’s been quite a while since the releaseof the last album, and in that time an awful lot has happened.” is the openingline from Greg Carmichael’s notes for the band’s brand new album, 33 1/3 ,and never a truer word has been written. The last studio album from the band,‘Roseland’, was released in 2011, followed by a live double album, ‘Live InLondon’, in 2014. “It has almost become a running joke, “ says MilesGilderdale, “after every single show we are constantly being asked, ‘When’s thenew album coming out?’ It’s nice to finally have an answer for them.” There are two main reasons for the amountof time fans have had to wait for this album. The first is that the band feelvery passionately that you should only write and album when you have somethingto say. “We’re quite lucky in that respect, “ says Miles, “we don’t have arecord label breathing down our necks telling us we need to put out somethingevery year.” Greg; “ For us, the only time we even consider going into thestudio is when we have some material that we really believe in. It’s been quitea while since I’ve had the space to even think about being creative.” Greg’s wife Jan was tragically and suddenlystruck with meningitis shortly before an American tour in 2015, “It’s one ofthose things that you hear about, but never imagine happening to you or yourloved ones. One day she was absolutely fine and the next we were in hospitalwith Jan in a coma and the doctors telling me there was a chance she wouldnever come out of it.” Fortunately she did recover, though the ferocity of theinfection has left her permanently affected. It’s just incredible thatsomething can do that to someone so quickly, so as you imagine I couldn’t eventhink about writing or playing.” With the help of guitarists Steve Oliverand Nate Najar, Acoustic Alchemy continued to tour the United States with Gregflying in as and when he could, “I couldn’t believe how great they were. I’mnot sure I could do that, just take a whole set of songs and learn someoneelse’s parts and just go up and play it so incredibly well. I’m really gratefulto them, and Jan’s incredible strength and determination have been such aninspiration, and that’s what made me want to get back to writing.” For over three decades the band have beenat the forefront of contemporary jazz, even if the band’s signature eclecticmix of styles  has meant they have nevercomfortably fit snugly into any one genre; “We’ve had a lot of labels over theyears, at the start there were all these names flying around like New AdultContemporary, New Age music, and then it became Smooth Jazz, but we’ve neverreally thought about ourselves as being in any one particular genre. We justmake music we like.” Says Greg, “At the core it’s always been about one simpleconcept: the sound of the nylon and steel guitars working together, but thatleaves a lot of scope for exploring all sorts of musical ideas.” That is certainly the case with 33 1/3,and album which touches on Jazz (such as the track ‘A Little Closer’), Blues(‘Blues for Mr. Mu’ being a tribute to the late Steely Dan founder WalterBecker), Caribbean (the band have a long history of incorporating the sounds ofthe Islands into their songs, and ‘The Girl With A Plan’ follows that traditionfrom such past hits as ‘Mr. Chow’ and ‘Jamaica Heartbeat’), Eastern (found inthe opening track of the album ‘East of Babylon’) and even Classical music(‘Allemande’ and ‘Prelude in D Minor’ two pieces that Greg has always lovedplaying since his early days at the London College of Music), and yet with allthe diversity of styles, the album manages to still sound like classic AcousticAlchemy, as Miles explains, “The band has changed a lot over the years,different personnel, different eras, different influences, but we alwayssomehow make it sound like Acoustic Alchemy. I think every band tries to dothat, to make something that’s new and interesting, but the fans still hear itand go, that’s them!”