Recorded during the same session as the last two tracks of Matthew Halsall’s previous album Fletcher Moss Park (2012), When the World was One (June 2014) introduces seven new compositions featuring the Manchester-based composer, producer and DJ himself on trumpet and his “Gondwana Orchestra” – a seven piece ensemble. The instrument mix (bass, drum, saxophone, piano, harp and bansuri flute) and the reflective pace of the songs (7’’ to 12’’ long) all point eastwards, especially on songs like “Kiyomizu-Dera” and “Sagano Bamboo Forest” with the addition of a Japanese 13 string Koto harp (Keiko Kitamura). And the title of the final track (“Tribute to Alice Coltrane”) nicely positions the entire recording as an homage to the spiritual jazz movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.