Bristolian (via Malawi and Zambia) Simon Price - a former member of the underrated The Heads (N.B. not the post-Talking Heads band of the same name featuring ex-Byrne collaborators) - today presents for us a beautiful window into the sonic menagerie of his debut solo album, titled and written under the name “kandodo”.

Evoking the insistent, throbbing pulses of 70’s Germany, the dry desert scorch of Morricone, even a hazy, washed-out neo-psychedelia in the Spacemen 3 frame, kandodo (named after a Malawian supermarket) is something of a predatory animal: dark, elusive, intelligent, able to drag an unsuspecting listener away at its whim, but, most importantly, a creature of deep and inconceivable beauty. Though kandodo’s “hyena” is only alluded to in his song titles, we can see its lean, glistening form through the darkness.

The project (and album) was - surprisingly - created only on a handful of instruments. Based largely around Price’s guitar work (a ‘65 Magnatone Typhoon, if you’re interested) with additional swirls of keyboards and hand percussion, the result, tellingly dubbed “fuzzy lullabies” by Price, tenses, pulls, yearns and twists with subtle shifts in simple melodic lines and exploratory expressiveness.

Check out leaked track “Laud the Hyena” below, and keep an ear out for self-titled full-length kandodo on its June release through Thrill Jockey.