Reviewed by Sue Rann

Wow. Australian band Rivertribe have gone for the A-Z approach to instrumentation: if it exists and can be induced to make a noise, they'll use it, from aardvark to zither. If the result of such an approach could be sensibly assumed to sound like a zoo and an orchestra falling down a mountainside together, fear not: Rivertribe's sound is an instantly seductive mix of the folksy and the synthetic, soulful and restful without being the tiniest bit boring. With all the chorus titles spattered through the tracklist, I had braced myself for yet another dull rehash of what I sing on a Sunday, but there's none of that here. The 'Tribe take a phrase from the tune and run away to play with it - "Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble" is almost six minutes long and while the fragment of melody pops up now and again to say hello, meanwhile the 'Tribe are taking us on a magic carpet ride of expressive beauty, with a range of style that never lets things get predictable. An impressive international debut. (Don't miss their European tour dates later this year.)

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