Karma

After Jambinai, Black String are the best known of the intriguing new batch of experimental folk bands from South Korea. Both groups mix ancient instruments including the geomungo (zither) or yanggeum (hammered dulcimer) with contemporary influences, guitars and electronica. So what's the difference? Jambinai's latest album ONDA matches an extraordinary blitz of sound against gentle, lyrical passages, while Karma is a far more measured, at times quietly hypnotic affair. But it's still bravely original.

This is a band happy to explore new influences. Two years ago they collaborated in London with Northumbrian piper and fiddler Kathryn Tickell. Sadly she doesn't appear here, but they match an impressively varied set of influences against their traditional roots.

Karma starts with the gently rhythmic and compelling ‘Sureña’ and then develops into a selection of tracks that has the fluidity of a jazz set. No surprise that Ornette Coleman was an inspiration for the final track, ‘Blue Shade’. Elsewhere, on ‘Elevation of Light’ twanging geomungo lines from bandleader Heo Yoon-Jeong give way to a solo work from the Paris-based Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê, while on the gently drifting ‘Exit Music – For a Film’, the Radiohead song is re-worked for geomungo and guitar. And the title-track is a gently compelling blend of ancient instruments and electronica.