Venturing off to ‘far away lands’ (Delhi) in the winter of 2009, Laura Marling, Marcus Mumford (and his respective offspring) teamed up with Indian folk group Dharohar Project, making music and making fun, whilst playing some gigs in India with the group. This was reciprocated in the summer of 2010 where Mumford & Sons & Laura Marling invited the group to play shows with them in England. What has emerged from this musical foreign exchange is the imaginatively titled Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling & Dharohar Project EP. The actual musical-meet-up was part of an initiative by Soundpad and was in part funded by the British Music Council; so whilst it has a Beatles-esque tinge to its beginnings, it really isn’t anything of the kind. The result is at times impressive; it is without doubt a worthwhile departure for all three parties involved, but it does have its pitfalls.
For instance, Marcus Mumford’s wailing vocals are almost wholly not present from the four songs in question. Aside from the stripped down bastard-pop of the first two songs (the first track is a mix of Laura Marling’s Devil’s Spoke and Dharohar Project’s Sneh Ko Marg, whilst the second is a mix of Mumford’s To Darkness and Dharohar’s Kripa) he rarely makes an appearance. Now whilst this is a slight hindrance when noticed, it in fact allows Laura Marling to take centre stage for two of the tracks on the EP, and it is her performance, and her ability to easily fuse her style with Dharohar Project, which is this EP’s saving grace.
The opening track, as I have already noted, is a mash up of sorts of a Laura Marling track and a track by the Dharohar Project; the vocalists in question here work effortlessly off of eachother, whilst the musicianship is crisp and on point. Constant build ups, instant strip downs, followed by layered crescendos seems to be the most regular port-of-call for the tri-tet; and whilst the musical venture itself is not conventional, this self-same style is repeated again and again throughout the EP; and upon reflection, they make their innovation sound conventional. So as to be expected, the same effect is attempting on the second track, this time as a mash up with a Mumford song which was a B-side to Little Lion Man; To Darkness. The separate sections of the song(which they are), Mumford led or Dharohar led, seem to be separate songs; and there seems to be less cohesion from the previous track, and is certainly a less comfortable fusion than the EP’s opener.

Where the real flourish is though, is on the fourth and final track, Mehendi Rachi. (There appears to be ambiguity about the spelling of this, the Mumford website lists it with the ‘d’ in Mehendi, whereas the iTunes tracklisting omits it.) Laura Marling again takes centre stage, her soft vocals are an almost verbal riposte to the howling and controlling Indian counterparts. Mumford here appear almost non existent until a characteristic banjo-loop introduces itself as Ms Marling sings, “Perhaps I’ll be a bird one day/ If I’m good enough/ And I’ll spread out and fly away.” and “They will not hear a word you say they don’t believe in souls,” - Beginning an English-Indian exchange of both lyricism and instrumentation which develops and builds throughout, layers in itself and upon itself, until the song’s climax where the two styles ultimately fuse and merge, which can (I feel) accurately be described as polyphonic; Marling concluding, “I’m no deceiver, I’m a believer,” and thus ending the short experimentation of the EP.
This EP in and of itself is certainly a worthwhile endeavour by the triad involved. Mumford at times seem absent, they are consistent when present but ultimately it is Laura Marling and The Dharohar Project who have shone through and made this worth any investment.

Lyrics – 5/10
Instrumentation – 7/10
Production – 5/10

Giving this 57%.