EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION

"Rupa Marya is an intriguing woman. She's a singer-songwriter and a doctor from San Francisco whose parents come from northern India and who spent much of her early life in southern France. Her songs are mostly in French, but with a few excursions into English, Spanish or Hindi, and are performed by a band in which her vocals and guitar work are backed by cello, trumpet and accordion, along with upright bass and drums, with the occasional fiddle or tablas. Predictably, her debut album is one of the more engagingly eclectic American releases of the year. This could clearly be a great party band, but here the mood is often pensive, from the charmingly slinky love song Les Abeilles to the politics of Une Americaine a Paris. The more rousing brass and accordion workout on Plus Que Moi or the drifting, eastern-edged Yaad show that the band are capable of more, so their live shows should be worth checking out." (Robin Denselow, www.guardian.co.uk)