Haiku Salut - Tricolore

Tricolore is a new album release from Derbyshire-based instrumental trio Haiku Salut. The core group are joined for this album by accompanists The Little Orchestra.

Haiku Salut describe themselves as ’Baroque-Pop-Folktronic-Neo-Classical-Something-Or-Other’ and this is a true reflection of their sound, melding traditional instrumentals with complex electronica and compelling rhythyms, to create rather unique soundscapes. This is spellbinding musical wizardry, often languid and unhurried but at times accelerating into more dynamic mode.

The opening title track is melodic, gentle and entrancing, led by piano and horns. The Japanese-inspired Watanabe opens with rippling, cascading piano and a delicate melody, and experiments with changes of pace and tone in a very clever way.

The excellent Sounds Like There’s a Pacman Crunching up Your Heart opens as pure folk, before picking up the pace and cleverly converting the same melody into computer game electronica before finally bringing in a driving bass beat.

In another twist, Los Elefantes mixes French accordion sounds with a rapidly accelerating beat and rising percussion that ends with tribal drumming effects. French sounds feature again in the accordion driven Lonesome George.

The standout Train Tracks for Wheezy begins as a dreamy piano and accordion duet branching later into electronica to create a result that is simply spellbinding feelgood music.

An outstanding album, quite anything else you are likely to hear.