Nanna

The eighth studio album from the barefoot Aussie troubadour sees him foregoing his one-man band approach, where he multi-tracked countless didgeridoos, guitars and drums to create blissed-out world fusion, to put together a ten-strong band, the United Nations. It is an aptly named group, since Rudd's whole vision is planted firmly in the collective, socially and politically engaged ethos of artists like Bob Marley.

And talking of Marley, this album is mixed by the legendary Jamaican audio engineer Errol Brown of Tuff Gong Studios, who has rubbed shoulders with all the mighty Marley singers. As you might expect, the resulting album is heavy on the reggae pulse, with lush backing vocals rising to join Rudd's lead. The musicians are a global crowd, but there is a strong emphasis on Rudd's native Australia and surrounding lands. There is a rather relentless positivity to the songs, which can feel a bit one-dimensional. But, as ever, Rudd's consciousness of indigenous Australian music, culture and spirituality is to the fore. Yet that is merely a starting point as his lyrics encompass a global roots spirituality that connects native cultures from Hawaii to Canada back to Australia.