Zulya is a special breed of musician. Her chilling and worldly voice espouses sentiments of other places and times, in languages both familiar and foreign. Having moved to Australia from her native Tatarstan in central Russia 10 years ago, she has crafted her own unmistakable sound of world music, deeply rooted in Russian and Tatar folk song, and sung in those languages, as well as English.

Although “Crassic” wouldn’t have been my choice of adverb for “Crass” – a somewhat dated term for unrefined or crude – that’s probably what makes it so suitable for this young band.