Meet the latest folk-prog-jazzers to spring from London's vibrant music scene, as they share a glimpse into their forthcoming new LP Thread of Gold.

Based in London but universal in scope and expression, Hejira are a group that belie much of their own appearance. A band with deeply immersive textures; moonlighting session musicians with a mastery of the subtle and experimental; recipients of effuse critical and creative praise who self-sufficiently record and release their own music.

The band comprises Sam Beste, Alex Reeve and Rahel Debebe-Dessalegne, alongside a close circle of additional musicians and collaborators. They have received commissions to compose, arrange and perform original works from the London Sinfonia, BBC’s Nick Luscombe, Spitalfields Music, Help Refugees, the V&A and the British Council.

Thread of Gold
Borne from an astonishing and acutely personal sequence of events, Thread of Gold tells the story of vocalist, bass guitarist and co-songwriter Rahel Debebe-Dessalegne's changing relationship with her homeland of Ethiopia after the death of her father. In 2016 she took the band with her on a pilgrimage to Addis Ababa, looking to reaffirm her own ancestral roots and cultural identity, and then on a deeper exploration into the unique peoples and musics of the country. The subsequent record sparkles with articulate and subtle instrumentation, earworming choruses, orchestral arrangements, close vocal harmonies and East African field recordings, illuminating a profoundly moving and intimate personal expression.

About Hejira

Hejira formed in 2010 after Beste, Debebe-Dessalegne and fellow multi-instrumentalist Alex Reeve set up their home studio in South East London. The line-up expands to include additional musicians both in the studio and onstage, not hired hands but musical ‘cousins’ to the ‘siblings’ of the core members. Years of performing together in jazz and big-band ensembles, and alongside such huge profiles as Amy Winehouse, Nitin Sawhney, Floating Points and Eric Lau has informed an instinctual and mutually inspiring compositional relationship within the band.

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COMPETITION: Win 1x pair of tickets to attend Hejira at Oslo, Hackney at 19:30 on Thursday 7 March. To enter the competition, send an email to vienna@run-riot.com with the correct answer in the ‘subject’ line. The winner will be randomly selected.
Q: Hejira are a London band partly named after the Arabic word for "flight or journey to a more desirable place", and partly after a 1976 album by which singer-songwriter?
A: .1) Joni Mitchell .2) Jackson Browne .3) Nick Drake .4) Carly Simon