Anomalia

Polish outfit Polski Piach’s third album, Anomalia sees them return with a new angle on their brand of folk-blues. The album is a homage to anomalies, and is singular in its own right, in that it’s the trio’s first fully unplugged output, as bandleader Patryk Zakrocki sticks to acoustic guitar to match his bandmates’ bass clarinet and folk basolia. Each of the 12 tracks takes its name from an anomalous event, and incorporates the sounds of the Sahara and the Mississippi Delta, and the landscape of their native Poland. Opener, ‘Third Hand’, captures a shapeshifting melody that flows from mellifluous to mysterious before segueing in the sparse, punchy blues of ‘Suspicious Clouds’. There’s a satisfying flow to the record, as each song emerges from its predecessor, bringing with it a new tack or nuance, but holding fast to a steady rhythmic strut, around which the trio manoeuvre their instruments.