Some seven years ago, Duncan Bridgeman and Faithless founder Jamie Catto released their first example of their nomadic prowl across the planet seeking out surprising musical marriages. This follow-up takes a similar approach but, linked to a TV series and other multi-media stuff, it comes across as much more ambitious. They set out from Britain with a bunch of pre-recorded musical bits and travelled to 50 locations across the globe, adding contributions from people both famous and obscure, then seamlessly joined them all up. It may seem like a kind of aural scrapbook of their journeys, but it’s much more elaborate than that, this double disc coming to over two hours of inspired inter-cultural fusion. Some familiar names from last time re-appear – Baaba Maal, Maxi Jazz, Michael Stipe and Michael Franti among them – but also here are Oumou Sangare, kd lang, Zap Mama and Daniel Lanois, not to mention Tavan throat-singers, Arab Beduoin musicians and Chinese rappers. It’s a bit Deep Forest at times (not necessarily a bad thing), but there’s no doubt these guys have been on an amazing journey and have found a great way to share it with us.

BILL HOLDSWORTH

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