The Imagined Village
Album: Bending The Dark
Label: ECC
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.eccrecords.co.uk/theimaginedvillage

This is the third album from the musical collective 'The Imagined Village', and marks another stage in the the evolutionary process that sees the band exploring more new and uncharted musical territories.

Sheema Mukherjee, sitar player and original member explains that the enjoyment of the collaboration lies in the common desire they all gain from working together to create new music from the marrying together of their Asian and Western influences.

Simon Emmerson's wish was to produce a third album that reflects the fun and energy the musicians generate as a live unit, whilst allowing for opportunities to display their respective skills, eccentricities and unique identities as songwriters, arrangers and musicians.

'Bending the Dark' certainly achieves this, and so much more, and the sheer quality and skilful complexity of the album demonstrates just how united they have become as a band.

There is so much to hear on the album, with the core of it being the title track 'Bending the Dark' which at 12 minutes and 22 seconds long is an absolute cornucopia of musical ideas and sounds.

Sheema Mukherjee wrote and laid down the base track for this piece, and the musicians stepped up to the canvas and each in turn added their ideas and creative input. It says everything that the Imagined Village is about, and will no doubt please many audiences when the band appear at summer festivals.

Newcomer to the village Jackie Oates delights in taking the lead on three of the album's tracks, with 'Nest' being a beautiful and wistful song so akin to Jackie's style, and 'Captain's Apprentice' leading seamlessly into Eliza's 'New York Trade' a song that beautifully marries traditional folk melodies with a contemporary beat rhythm.

Phil Carter