Joseph Petric: Seen (Redshift Records/digital outlets)

The accordion is a much maligned instrument, the punchline to many jokes by musicians. Probably a hangover from relentlessly cheerful polka bands (although not this one!).

Yet in the right hands the accordion – and its cousin the bandoneon – is not only capable of great expression (think of the tango music of the late bandoneon masters Dino Saluzzi and Astor Piazzolla) but in zydeco groups it pulls dancers to the floor.

That said, “accordion” can be a sticking point for many.

Step past that prejudice, as this writer forced himself to do, and discover the Canadian accordion master Joseph Petric whose approach to the instrument on this fascinating album can perhaps best be described as post-postmodern or avant-garde. He stalks the electro-acoustic territory of art music, commissions new and challenging work, and collaborates with composers who work with tapes and synths.

It's accordion Jim, but not as we know it.

The three-part title piece here written by the Polish composerNorbert Palej is imbued with Catholic mmysticism and visions, conveyed in the slowly unfolding drama – and sometimes slightly whimsical passages – of each section which refer to St Margaret Mary Alacoque in Poland, an apparition in Ireland and the famous miracle at Fatima, Portugal in 1917.

The latter section opens with a beguilingly simple and stately melody as you might hear on a church organ before a liturgy, then expands into a brightly enthusiastic central section (the crowds arriving for the visitation?) before a more melancholy denouement.

The 11 minute Leviathan by electro-acoustic composer Erik Ross couples the foreground of accordion with a murky and slightly menacing backdrop of atmospheric tape noises, as befits the title.

There is sense of an astute and abstract approach (check the constantly surprising opener Spirit Cloud and closing Metamorphoses) by Petric across some of these eight pieces.

If you have some hesitation about whether accordion is an instrument capable of exploring and creating innovative, experimental and compelling music then Joseph Petric is here with persuasive evidence on Seen.

Listen without prejudice, as the man said.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here.