Gurrumul

Already something of a sensation on the world music scene, Yunupingu’s debut album is a bit of a bewildering beast when all’s said and done. Largely consisting of delicate acoustic-guitar based arrangements, the tracks (sung in a mixture of Yolgnu and English) are just far too long. The Aboriginal singer may have a striking voice, but the eight-minute ‘Galiku’ and dirges like ‘Gurrumul History (I Was Born Blind)’ suffer due to the lack of editing. There are some nice textures and melodies on Gurrumul but the overall impact is less than overwhelming.