Under the Shade of Violets

The French electronica-meet-world-music outfit known as Orange Blossom had been off the radar for a whole ten years until they made a welcome and impressive comeback at this year's WOMAD. Back in 2005 their second album Everything Must Change was released to international acclaim, with the quartet praised for the deft and innovative ways in which they mixed Algerian rai, North African percussion and classical Arabic music with electronic beats. There were tours of the Maghreb and Europe, and support slots with Robert Plant. And then? nothing.

Orange Blossom have, apparently, been biding their time, recruiting new members and crafting tracks for this new work – one that wallops the listener in the gut as it caresses the brow with delicate melodies and aural effects. Opener ‘Ommaly’ sets the pace, with tremulous Oum Kalthoum-like vocals from newcomer Hend Ahmed Hassan. Tracks such as ‘Ya Sîdî’, ‘Good Bye Kô’ and ‘Mexico’ (a paean to the birthplace of drummer Carlos Robles Arenas) are similarly varied. If others, such as ‘Lost’, tip over into bombast, no matter; Orange Blossom are back, and sounding more fragrant than ever.