An outstanding album of musical and cultural fusion by the British sextet O.V.V. who make Eastern European melodies sound hip.

Already famed for their live shows, O.V.V. have played one of the UK's biggest festivals Glastonburry, appeared on Buddha Bar compilation CDs and are now finally coming out with their debut album Laughter Through Tears, the sound of six young Londoners searching for an identity. Steeped in the rhythms of Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and beyond, Laughter Through Tears is the soundtrack to 1001 Urban Nights. Poignant universal stories, beautifully told though folk-tinged songs like "Refugee" and "Yesterday's Mistakes" sit alongside such tracks as "7 Brothers" with its deepest of grooves; drawing as much on modern dance music as their Jewish cultural heritage. No other group is out there mixing things up as boldly and as brilliantly as O.V.V. The album also includes a hidden track - a remix of "7 Brothers," by Hefner who has remixed Cinematic Orchestra, Omar Faruk Tekbilek and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. This is the best ethnic fusion record you've ever heard.