Miho Wada ’s latest album ‘Accidental Journey’ has a most incredible back story. The album tells of Wada’s life-saving emergency surgery and subsequent recovery – beautifully articulated in the CD liner notes.

Recorded and mixed by Olly Harmer at The Lab back in 2017 and mastered by Don Bartley at Benchmark Mastering, ‘Accidental Journey’ is, like Wada’s previous offerings, an action-packed, charming, quirky and upbeat album.

Even on the more reflective tracks such as Forgotten and Orange Moon there’s mischievous and effervescent qualities to her compositions – amply aided by her sidemen – especially her violinist husband Pascal Roggen who easily matches Wada for energy.

Standouts for me include the frenzied opener Not Scared, which reflects the turmoil of having emergency surgery, packing both a musical and emotional punch, Project 9 (I’m a sucker for anything in triple time), and the charming Tui Song. Overall, another solid, fun outing by Wada that should charm fans and win her new converts to her Japanese punk-jazz style.