Recommended: Kinsmen – “Window to the Ashram”

It’s pretty easy to take to the languid melodies and pleasant rhythmic chatter from the trio Kinsmen.  Their promising debut Window to the Ashram is a reflection of trio’s roots as fourth-generation South Africans and their Indian ancestry.  The combination of sitar, tabla and tenor saxophone is the shape of the door they pass through to achieve their intriguing blend of modern jazz, Indian Classical and folk.

Most tracks take on a peaceful ambiance to start, and then slowly coax the intensity level upward.  What’s particularly arresting is that they gradually increase the maximum temperature with each successive track, and so the subtle dramatics on a tune like “Water” resonates that much stronger in comparison to all that came before it.

Window to the Ashram is a curious little album, and its peculiarities, rather than present themselves as an obstacle, are actually the reason the music is so easy to embrace.

Your album personnel:  Dhruv Sodha (sitar, synths), Shailesh Pillay (tabla) and Muhammad Dawjee (tenor saxophone).

The album is Self-Produced.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Album cover art by Mongezi Ncaphayi.

Music from Pretoria, South Africa.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon