This is the album that fans of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu have been waiting for. The Saltwater Band, a hugely gifted ten-member outfit from Elcho Island off the coast of Arnhem Land, are a funky, sunny collective comprising three members of the Yunupingu family (including Gurrumul), three members of the Dhurrkay family, two members of the Garawirrtja family and two members of Dhamarrantji family. In other words Saltwater takes sibling and fraternal harmonies to levels unequalled since The Beach Boys.

Amusingly, if not surprisingly, the album opens with Martjamba, a celebration of the tropical glories of the Arafura Sea, which includes harmonies uncannily reminiscent of The Beach Boys 1963 hit Surfer Girl. That’s part of the appeal of this album. Every track is a surprise and producer Michael Hohnen, determined to push Saltwater Band in new and innovative directions, has allowed the band to lay down a series of tracks inspired by sunny pop (syncopated rhythms, the Caribbean sunniness of Johnny Nash, hints of reggae, a touch of the South Pacific) and then added subtle layers of piano, horns and strings. The end result is Aboriginal music like it has never been heard before. It is a true synthesis of the deep traditionalism of Elcho Island (listen to Compass which celebrates the role of ancestors in the island culture) with such non-Aboriginal elements as a string quartet (Baywara) and horns (Marwurrumburr).

Gurrumul Yunupingu offers variations of four songs which first appeared on his award-winning platinum debut album. Marwurrumburr is delivered with all the sparkle of an early ska hit. Wiyathul, now called Djilawurr, is backed by piano and strings rather than acoustic guitar and delivered with some sublime sibling harmonies, there’s a suitably soulful reading of Baywara and Wirrpanju gets a laidback country honky tonk treatment.

What is remarkable about this album is that it presents Gurrumul and his community in a totally different light. It is not slow and melancholy like Gurrumul’s platinum-selling debut album. Instead it is an exuberant, uplifting celebration of island culture and life and as such has a number of songs which deserve to be mainstream pop hits. Malk, sung in a mix of English and Yolgnu, is a compulsive dance track and Galiku, sung entirely in Yolgnu, deserves to be a summer dance floor staple with its glorious harmonies, funky rhythms and tropical ambience.

Like this?   Try these: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Gurrumul; The Pigram Brothers, Saltwater Country.

Bruce Elder    The Sydney Morning Herald    Saturday 11 Sept 2010