Sir Was: Digging a Tunnel – a wonderful musical intersection

Gothenburg-based Joel Wästberg knows all about the value of soaking up different musical influences. An early stint as a jazz saxophonist led him to travelling to Durban, South Africa, which he subsequently used as a stepping-stone to investigating pan-African music from Zimbabwe to Mozambique. You would guess that Wästberg's debut album might be a synthesis of these influences, but not a bit of it. Rather, he takes songs such as In the Midst, the title track, Revoke, Interconnected, Heaven is Here and Sunsets Sunrises, and leads them through intersectional points of woozy Tame Impala-like instrumentation, jazz, hip-hop and electronica. Topping it all off with a vocal delivery that sways from somnambulant spoken-word to swooning falsetto, Digging a Tunnel is up there with the very best. sirwas.bandcamp.com