Originally formed in 2001, Cambridge/London-based combo Sunday Driver immediately began making waves with a fusion of English folk and classical Indian influences. Such was the unique sound they created people were at a loss as to how to categorise them; steampunk, world music, folk and Carnatic were all genres thrown at them, yet their wonderful plasticity meant that none of them stuck. In truth, Sunday Driver are all of those genres (and more) and their latest album Silk And Filth pulls them all together into a cohesive whole and weaves its colourful threads into a rich tapestry.

As you’d expect from a band who are rapidly approaching their twenty-fifth anniversary, Sunday Driver are in no rush and opening track ‘Malice Scourge’ is indicative of that. It sounds as if a great deal of effort has been expended on finding just the right tones and timbres, and as such it reaches deep into the listener’s psyche and touches previously unsearched parts of the soul. It’s a beautiful instrumental, poetry without words, that adds layers of sound, almost imperceptibly, until we are subsumed in the band’s world. The manipulation of sonics is something that will echo throughout the album and no more so than on the following title-track. The (often) unorthodox rhythms the band create have a hypnotic effect and that makes the sonic shift at the 03:20 mark acts a cold splash of water to the face, immediately awakening us from our revere. Chandy Nath’s vocals are as haunting as the music and during ‘Devils’ they waft as if the ghost of Sandy Denny emanating from another dimension.

The lyrics comprising songs such as ‘Bank Job’ are so evocative and ornate that they turn them into novellas and when coupled with the band’s sound become very cinematic. It finds the band introducing jazzy sections to colour their palette and is just crying out to be turned into an art house film, one with overflowing ashtrays and pages ripped from calendars to signify the passage of time. Despite each song having its own feel, Silk And Filth is an album that’s stitched together by its own eclecticism and while it is perfectly feasible to dip in and out and enjoy each song individually, this is an album best enjoyed whole to fully appreciate its ululation, the ebb and flow, push and pull between east and west. However, sometimes as critics we can over analyse music, and while there’s plenty of depth to mine on ‘We Don’t Belong’ it can also be enjoyed for what it is (i.e. a great, great, great, great song).

This is an album that never fails to throw up surprises and therefore is the kind of record which will reward repeat spins as subtle (and not so) nuances buried in the mix gradually reveal themselves. But when the music is this good, repeat plays are a pleasure.

• Silk And Fury is released via Trapped Animal Records on 7th March 2025.
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Track List:

1. Malice Scourge
2. Silk And Filth
3. Devils
4. Bank Job
5. Panda Ballet
6. Les Amoureuses
7. We Don’t Belong
8. Red Dragon
9. The Death Of John Company