It seems impossible to imagine another band having Hejira’s sound, but when you consider the London quartet’s collective history, you better understand what makes them tick. Players Sam Beste, Rahel Debebe-Dessalegne, Alexis Nunez, and Alex Reeve boast incredible backgrounds, with ties to Chile, Hungary, Ethiopia, and Germany, and the list of projects they’ve contributed to is even more diverse: Tom Jones, Amy Winehouse, Nitin Sawhney, psych-pop oddball Connan Mockasin, and rap beat rule-breaker Eric Lau. Add to all of that the fact that their forthcoming album, Prayer Before Birth, was produced by electronic music iconoclast Matthew Herbert and, well, you get a thing like “Pinter.”
Streaming below, the song combines elements of prog and post-punk with ambient and jazz, landing at something symphonic in texture and scope. It’s no small feat and will be joined by a handful of other highlights on October 21 when Herbert’s Accidental Records releases Prayer Before Birth.
