Sojourns: Volume 1

Following 2017's Tapestry, Nava are here again to prove that Irish and Persian music are not as unlikely bedfellows as one might think. This, the first instalment of a two-part release, sees the quartet of two Irish and two Iranian musicians combining their obvious talents and broad experience into a short but beautifully flowing set of mainly original music, based around traditional Irish forms with a classical Persian influence in arrangement.

The last album felt like more of a fusion than this one, whose compass definitely swings more West than East, but then this is only really half an album; perhaps the balance will be redressed with Volume 2. What we get here occupies a similar sound-world to The Gloaming, most noticeably in their version of ‘Cuckanandy’ and the almost devotional ‘Cerulean’, influenced by minimalism and impressionism. Banjo and tar (Persian banjo-like instrument) are joined by santur (hammered dulcimer), guitar and bass, with the odd bit of percussion and bass clarinet, resulting in a timbre of precision and resonance; each note a gesture in an intimate dialogue across continents.