Almost everything about Bristol-based quartet Zun Zun Egui is colourful, explosive and surprising. From the band’s own roots and beginnings as a roaming live act, through to their psychedelic visuals, and more importantly the varied nuances of sound that are contained in continual aspects of their music, colour is at Katang’s very core. In fact, Zun Zun Egui’s debut long player is so densely packed with movement and sheer elation that it just begs to be played an excessive amount of times, each and every listen stripping away numerous musical layers and exposing ever more technicalities and details.

It is within the album’s two lengthiest tracks that these incredible sonic transformations are at their most obvious. Introduced in the album’s opener, title-track ‘Katang’, and again in seven-minute epic ‘Mr. Brown’, musical mutation and genre-welding are at the very fore. The kinetic ‘Katang’ begins with a siren-like call to arms before it plunges into key changes and a kicked-up pace change. And that’s just the first minute. Later the vocals alternate to syncopated, overlapping male/female caterwauls, punctuated by fitful percussion that continues throughout the album. On ‘Mr. Brown’ Zun Zun Egui showcase an air of otherworldly sounds and array of foreign languages that cumulates in an aura of tribal tightness that allows the band to demonstrate the dizzying amount of ideas that the the foursome can pack into a short space of time.

Yet for all its wandering, sprawling and genre-defying instrumental antics Katang’s vocals, lyrics and indeed the concept of lyrics are what are so intensely integral to Zun Zun Egui. With members of the band from Japan and Mauritius, and with many of the album’s 10 tracks being sung in these languages, as well as English, French, Creole and their very own created speech, Katang really is a melting pot of culture, interpretation and meaning: one that retains its tribal feel throughout the record. This emphasis on language and the effects that language – foreign or entirely created – can have upon its listeners is yet another of the musical aspects of Zun Zun Egui that makes them such a fascinating entity, for the beauty of the band is that even if you’re not entirely sure of the exact translation or interpretation, none of each individual tracks’ explosive action or musical meaning is compromised.

When English lyrics are sung, predominantly by Kushal Gaya, it’s often to humorous effect: take lead single ‘Fandango Fresh’ and its frankly bizarre refrain of “Sexy worm went and got the bird” or the jubilant, eponymous shouts of “Cowboy” on ‘Cowboy’. It’s not that what they sing about is nonsensical, rather there’s an evident sense of fun to be had with Zun Zun Egui, as witnessed most clearly during their onstage performances. Indeed as a live force to be reckoned with, the band recall swerving similarities and take the same spasmodic instrument swapping and frenetic fitfulness of fellow experimentalists Islet.

Zun Zun Egui also share their penchant for the psychedelic with their Welsh counterparts, evidence of which can be seen in their music ­– particularly in the sweeping, syncopated melodies of ‘Twist My Head’, the moody slowness of ‘Transport’ and the hazy, synth-soaked majority of ‘Shogun’ – but also every aspect of their visuals, particularly the explosive artwork created by singer and keyboardist Yoshino Shigihara. And with the album also being produced by their bassist Luke Mosse, Katang is very much an in-house, DIY affair, an approach that pays off and is certainly integral to their inventive and original musical output.

As Katang begins its demise, so too does the pace and dynamics gradually grind to a halt. Take the silent start of ‘Shogun’ bookended with its equally majestic decline. Or ‘Sirocco’ and its simply stunning display of solo staccato guitar work, which not only serves to create an ambiance reminiscent of a western film, but also demonstrates just how versatile and wandering the guitar usage is within Katang’s entirety. Yet it is the vividly titled closing track ‘Heart In A Jar’ that truly encapsulates this intense diversity that comes to define the whole release, beginning with cacophonous caterwauling, before it fades into strummed, creeping silence as the album closes.

With Katang, Zun Zun Egui evoke both 60s psychedelia and what they themselves have termed ‘Tropical Thrash’ to create a varied and joyful explosion of a debut that gets better with each and every listen. As well as being a delight in its very own right, Katang also finds itself as the most recent in a long-running series of stunning Bella Union releases: I Break Horses, Explosions In The Sky, Veronica Falls and Lanterns On The Lake among them. Which simply begs the question, can Bella Union do any wrong? Based on Zun Zun Egui’s debut – an album that is continually exotic, experimental and exhilarating – the answer is an obvious and resounding no.