Uncle

Many reviewers judged the indigenous Pitjantjatjara singer-songwriter Frank Yamma's 2010 acoustic opus Countryman to be a masterpiece. The intervening years have seen him become a festival staple across Australia and increasingly on international stages. Created from a period of intense loneliness, the deeply emotional songs on that rural album – his first in a decade – were both gorgeous and heart-wrenching.

Uncle, Yamma's latest offering, is a bit rockier, but no less riveting, and since his personal situation has improved, his song palette has also widened. These new bilingual songs include tender love ballads like ‘This Time It's You and Me’ and the yearning ‘I’ll be Back Soon’, but he can still elicit tears, as on the reflective ‘Memories’. While the stripped-back simplicity and beauty of Pitjantjatjara language songs ‘Wati Kutchu Yangupala’ and ‘Beginning of the Day’ are undeniable, the English-language ‘Todd Mall’ honours the main street of the desert town Alice Springs, and ‘Sand Dunes’ subtly rocks out in style. Yamma also presents superb reworkings of two of his 90s tunes, ‘Everybody's Talking’ and ‘Pit Juli Wankanye’.

Producer David Bridie knows how to bring out the best from this massively talented Aboriginal singer, frequently double-tracking his voice for maximum effect. Helen Mountfort's delicate cello accompaniment remains the perfect complement to Yamma's heartfelt lyrics. His voice may not be as sweet as Gurrumul's, but Yamma's organic quality projects a raw power and honesty that makes his intrinsically Australian songs globally relevant, and as moving as anyone's. Uncle Frank is back with a passion.