The Tea Party are one of a host of bands from the 1990s who simply should have been much, much bigger around the globe than they actually were. Along with Mark Lanegan’s Screaming Trees, the Jeff Martin-lead Canuck three-piece took elements of Led Zeppelin and morphed it with a grungy aesthetic to deliver something that was wholly their own, and that has devoted fans but a relatively small selection of them.

Who knows why? The band were signed to a big American label for a while there, and after releasing an incredible first three albums and one brilliant acoustic EP, Alhambra, they kowtowed to the demands of their label fifth, and last, effort Seven Circles, working with outside producers who buffed the personality of the band away to some degree. It appears to have lead to the dissolution of the group, with Martin now embarking on a solo venture.

In many ways, Exile and the Kingdom is a tentative first step towards solo material for Martin – it borrows the acoustic trappings of Alhambra, and finds him working once more with tabla player Ritesh Das to create an Eastern-tinged sound that the Tea Party used early in their career before incorporating electronic elements into their repertoire on third album Transmission. As such, there’s space within the sound of Exile and the Kingdom, but also a heap of strings on the likes of opener “World is Calling”.

The songs – particularly the likes of “Butterfly”, “Daystar”, and “Black Snake Blues” – manage to combine an ear-friendly immediacy with a strength of composition that indicates Martin is back in control of the direction of the songs once more. Having ceded that on the final album by the Tea Party, Exile and the Kingdom is about Martin refocussing his muse. It works, primarily because he is such a consistent songwriter with such a great baritone. This debut solo release is hardly likely to change the world, but it will most certainly satisfy fans of Martin’s voice and songs.