Reclaim

Home-recorded entirely live-in-the-room, in a farmhouse in Gloucestershire, Mishra’s new album sets out its stall via an eclectic musical fusion of East and West; of whistles, dobro, clarinet and banjo, with tabla, santoor, calabash and kanjira, all chain-linked by the reliable pulse of Joss Mann-Hazell’s double bass.

Like a fair few albums this year, the roots of Reclaim lie in the pandemic, with the band reclaiming its connection to nature and with music and each other by getting together informally and breaking their instruments out. Reclaim is a place where Irish tune sessions meet Indian classical music in your front room, and while the likes of ‘Reel to Reel’ are firmly placed in the Irish tradition, the following ‘Rolling English Road’ mixes poetry by Chesterton with Indian percussion and the hammered dulcimer sound of the santoor and slide guitar. Kate Griffin’s clear, limpid vocal slides all over it, and the track ends with her unaccompanied voice and sounds as if she’s walking from the room. The following ‘Second Line’ hoists a bouncy riff on top of typically eclectic instrumentation to eulogise Griffin’s late grandmother, while the title-track is a propulsive Indian fusion based on ‘Raga Yaman’, and like the album itself, energetic and enjoyable throughout.