How many languages do you know? Although I was taught French and German at school (and a smattering of Russian), I have largely forgotten them. The odd word from other languages has taken up residence in my mental dictionary, but there has never been an entry in Slovenian. Then, a few days ago, I came across a folk/art rock band called Širom, which (according to a review in The Guardian) is Slovenian for ‘around’ or ‘widely’.

They are a very unusual three-piece band. Their compositions sit where Eastern European folk blends into psychedelic improvisation. It’s tempting to describe their style as ‘ambient’ or ‘trance’, but their songs are more structured than that. And that is what makes their latest album so listenable.

You can get an idea of the Širom sound from what they play. Nearly two dozen instruments are listed on the liner notes of their latest album, including the Persian gheychak (a bowed lute from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan), the Mongolian morin khuur (an over-size, two-string violin with a trapezoid body) and a variety of percussion instruments. They are all traditional acoustic instruments; there are no electronic effects here.

File this under contemporary classical, imaginary folk or rural underground, file it under Slovenian, file it under anything you want. People will find this wonderful album regardless. Or perhaps, more probably, it will find them.

From the Širom website

The tones and textures seem to come from the hinterlands of the Himalayas. But the melodies and harmonies will be very familiar to listeners in the Western hemisphere. Some tracks have vocals, but there are no words to decipher in the songs. The only hint of language comes from the unusually long and baffling titles. The full title of the album, for example, is In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper. (If you are tempted to take up the lotus position and utter an extended cry of “Om …”, I suggest you have misinterpreted its meaning.)

I will offer one word of warning, though. There are seven tracks on the album, four of them over 10 minutes long. Those longer tracks take us on a pleasant stroll through a varied landscape of acoustic Musicland, always interesting, never boring. Except, that is for The Hangman’s Shadow Fifteen Years On, the longest track of all (just under 19 minutes), which seems to have rather lost its way. Or, perhaps, it just got lost in the translation from Slovenian to English.