Having toured across the UK, Europe, the USA and Asia, including shows at London’s famed Barbican Hall, Koko and Union Chapel venues, and entirely selling out a short residency at Hoxton Hall, yndi halda’s fervent and nominally patient fan base have been eagerly awaiting this new material. For those who were previously enthralled by the band’s revered string-heavy and densely layered flavour of instrumental rock, there are seemingly endless new aural delectations to unearth and embrace in the band’s intense second effort.

Their music is at once subtle and joyous, hitting huge emotional peaks around moments of serene gentleness and heart-breaking sadness in its orchestration of sonorous guitar interlacing, meticulously crafted string arrangements and - now - soaring vocal harmonies.

Tracks such as ‘This Very Flight’ perfectly exemplify how dextrous and explorative the band have become, with the first half of the song revisiting the already cherished sounds of ‘Enjoy Eternal Bliss’, whilst the second half presents the ‘new yndi halda’, sonically more mature yet still unafraid to experiment with new emotions and sounds. Other tracks on the album such as ‘Golden Threads From The Sun’ solidify this new temperament, making prominent use of vocals and with a lighter timbre than before. The sonic boundaries of ‘Under Summer’ are only limited by the band’s collective imagination, and which sentiments they allow to permeate that individual creative talent. There may have been eight years of musical silence between the two albums, but this has allowed the band members’ individual life and subsequent cultural experiences to redefine the way the band can collectively compose and express themselves.

Speaking about writing the new album, James Vella (guitar, vocals) said “We called the album ‘Under Summer’. It is two references. For us at least. Inevitably it will mean something different to everyone who hears the album. But for us it is the very upper limit of the sky under which we wrote and recorded the album. The endless July days that we played into, a perfect calm and joy. But it’s also a sadness. ‘Under’ as in ‘beneath’; sorrow and heartache. We found that important because we want to express that in our music too. Sadness and bliss. What one means to the other.”

‘Under Summer’ is captivatingly personal, with both beauty and disconsolate longing entwined throughout every profoundly textured movement. This is something that means far more to yndi halda than written words in a press release, but something that is present and perceptible in the album.