Heemor (Windhorse Reprise)

Wind Horse, the debut release by Inner Mongolian band Anda Union in 2011, was a Top of the World in #80. The band played a stunning set at WOMAD and at many concerts at the Edinburgh Festival; their guttural throat singing, flamboyant horse-head fiddle playing and theatrical stage presence captivated all who saw them. They've since released a second album, Homeland and have toured widely around the world. When they played at Songlines Encounters festival in June they said they'd recorded a new version of their debut. Having played together for seven years, they felt they could do it better.

This latest version features new recordings of their previous tracks in a different order, plus a couple of new ones. There's certainly more flamboyance and wild abandon in this new version, and a broader dynamic range in their new opening track ‘Derlcha’. Although, listening back, both their debut and this 2018 version were very well produced by Grammy-Award winning producer Richard King, tracks such as ‘Boomborai’, with its guttural singing and horse-head fiddles, are certainly more visceral and dramatic in this new release, and ‘The Legend of the Swan Brothers’ has a dynamic drama to it.

If you already have Anda Union's original Wind Horse, you don't really need Heemor – but if you don't, this will be an essential release from the most remarkable band from Inner Mongolia.