Origo

Rooted in Eastern European music, this latest album from instrumental trio Kaja explores the boundaries of that wide genre and introduces influences from elsewhere, including West Africa, and the band's native Sweden. Performing on five-string violin, accordion and double bass, they weave a rich sound themselves but bring in guest musicians to spice up a few tracks with sax, subtle synth, percussion, and so on. The core trio also add piano, synth bass, hand claps and, naturally, scissors to the array of sounds here.

The result is an album with a high degree of verve, and with poise and intensity these musicians take us through a tableau of emotions: from the opening confidence of ‘Alla Vi’ (All of Us), one of the tunes with noticeable Swedish folk influences, via the moribund ‘Vals Till Döden’ (Waltz to Death) to the transcendent ‘Stains’. Their klezmer and Eastern European beginnings still show in tunes such as ‘Irrfärden’ (Road Trip), but the polyrhythms of ‘Tram No 9’ and the trance-like repetition of the melody in ‘Stains’ help build a wider sonic sphere. The final third of the album, a suite of three pieces entitled ‘Infinitus’, appears to echo the passage of life, or perhaps creation itself.