Twines

Poland’s avant-folk export combines the knotty, clay-bound roots of Polish music and folkloric traditions with innovation and experimentation, whether that was their 2020 Waterduction set or on this new album embracing change and new sources of rhythm, led by the band’s producer Mariusz Dziurawiec and a trio of musicians/producers. Here, the Villagers twine their folk roots with a pattern of ska-cum-reggae beats. Central to it all are the core singers Magdalena Sobczak-Kotnarowska (dulcimer) Sylwia Świątkowska (fiddle) and Ewa Wałecka, but while that core radiates as strongly as ever, I was unconvinced by the dubby beats, the bass and brass added to the Warsaw mix, though I’d bet on it wining over world music audiences. There are standouts, the sax on ‘Oh Forest, Oh My Forest’ or the otherworldly opening of ‘In the Deepest Heart’, but I’d prefer more roots and less branches into the land of ska.