Altur Mur

You know that bit in From Dusk till Dawn when the film goes from kidnap story to vampire flick with absolutely no warning? Sorry for the spoiler if you haven't seen it by the way. Well, Altur Mur is a bit like that if you haven't heard Mimika Orchestra before.

The lengthy opening track begins with a cappella vocal harmonies reminiscent of the fêted Le Mystère de Voix Bulgares album of 1975, and one might expect it to carry on in this vein, which would be great as the singing – in an apparently archaic Mediterranean language – is almost sacral in quality. But then, around the three-minute mark, comes the twist: discordant low brass tones enter the mix, drums lay down a heavy beat in three and, after a long build up the singing re-enters; this time two female voices incanting and paganistic. The overall sound is something like Youngblood Brass Band meets proto-Slavic shamanism. But this is not the only scene change in this album led by Croatians Mak Murtić, Maja Rivić and Marta Kolega. ‘Amuar’ is as much reminiscent of Miles Davis’ ‘Solea’ as ‘Funestra’ is of too many influences to list here. As you might be able to tell, I’m really into this.