Tried To Do’s, Jay Hammond’s second album as Trippers & Askers, follows the jazz-inflected sprawl of ‘Acorn’ with something more introverted and song-based. Shaped by acute personal grief and the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Asheville, the album turns inward without losing generosity. It’s a slow-burning, finespun record of bold sincerity and steady groundedness.
Jonathan Day returns as Jonathan Hijr Day Quartet with his new single, Cafe in the Valley of the Fire Church, born from his travels among the Amazigh and recorded at Gavin Monaghan’s Magic Garden Studios. Featuring Simon Smith on bass, Meinir Olwen on harp, Niimi Day Gough on voice and Adam Knight on vibraphone, the track fuses Celtic soul with Songhoy blues.
A decade on from Junun, Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood and The Rajasthan Express return with Ranjha, swapping Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh Fort for the rather more modest setting of Greenwood’s Oxford studio. With The Smile’s Tom Skinner on drums and twenty-one musicians at full creative tilt, this long-awaited follow-up is a big, rich, funk-leaning record built on ensemble craft and devoted love.
