Rozi Plain – Joined Sometimes Unjoined

Where Rozi Plain’s debut Inside Over Here was pieced together from various home recordings, the creation of Joined Sometimes Unjoined involved a full band and studio; a significant development for a performer often defined by her DIY inclinations, but one worn lightly. The opening tracks – the dainty Cold Tap and the dancing rhythms of Humans – are graceful and beguiling, with echoes of pals, Fence-mates and sometime backing band Francois & the Atlas Mountains in the former’s steel drums and the latter’s faintly afrobeat undercurrent.

But it’s on side two that Plain really impresses, with an exuberant re-record of See My Boat going off like a party-popper; Take It’s muttered protests and mantric guitar swirling together hypnotically; and the warm brass of Catch Up (from where the album gets its name) beautifully underpinning its otherwise fluttering cadence. As a whole, Joined Sometimes Unjoined’s charms are subtle but impactful: good, sometimes very good.