Komsa Gayar

Lindigo are a band firmly in touch with their roots, but that's not to say they aren't moving forward. For almost 20 years and six albums, they have wandered and experimented, yet they still keep that thumping heart of maloya at the centre of everything they do. Their self-professed motto is ‘when you know where you come from, you know where you're going’ and on Komsa Gayar, they take their sound to Cuba.

Recorded half there, half at home, the album is brimming with all the joy of a group confident in their music and willing to accommodate new influences. They team up with rumba royalty Los Muñequitos de Matanzas on a few tracks, the standout being ‘Ahi Na Ma’, an uplifting melange of rhythms that celebrates their two islands' shared ancestry and mutual love of rum. Other detours include elements of blues guitar, dub riddims and 1980s electro-pop synths, but the core of maloya remains, as does the enduring charm of bandleader Araste Olivier. When he's not calling you onto the dance floor, he sings like he's inviting you round to his place for a hot meal. It would be rude not to go.