HIGHLY acclaimed musicians Imagined Village will be showcasing their brand new album Bending The Dark at the Electric Palace on May 17.

Bending the Dark, as a title doesn’t refer to trendy new physics or even Lord of the Rings wizardry, it’s really very simple – ‘it doesn’t matter how bad things are if you pull together you can turn the situation around and come out of the darkness stronger and more confident’.

This exciting project brings together ten of the UK’s finest musicians, all of whom play in other bands ranging from Chase & Status, Afro Celts Sound System, Cornershop, Transglobal Underground, The Bays, Dhol Foundation and Red Snapper.

The evening will also feature a special composition by bandmember Sheema Mukherjee who is one of only 12 musicians to have been selected to participate in the PRS New Music 2012, a UK-wide commissioning programme consisting of 20 new pieces of music capturing the spirit of the Olympiad.

Sheema said: “Since being one of the chosen composers for this project, I have begun to consider the effect that such a global event has on communities and the individual. The Imagined Village has achieved considerable recognition within UK musical culture with acclaimed festival, TV and radio performances.

“It seems like a brilliant opportunity to expand the horizons of this unique band through this special commission.

“We hope to perform it at Womad 2012 and on our April 2012 tour, giving a special premiere performance in Bridport, where the band’s recording studio is based.”

The song provides a showcase for many of the different elements of The Imagined Village and as such the band felt this was a fitting piece to become the album’s title track.

A spokesman for the Electric Palace said: “Combining folk, electronic and world music, The Imagined Village are one of the most unusual and wonderful collaborations of the past decade. In exploring the nature of Englishness in our culturally diverse times, you can expect to hear 15th century ballads re-tuned to an electro – reggae beat or a 200-year-old folk song re-imagined for the sitar.”

Catch the first live performance of Bending The Dark at the Electric Palace on May 17.

The doors open at 7pm, tickets are £15 plus booking fee in advance or £18 on the door and are available from Bridport Tourist Information Centre on 01308 424901 or online at seetickets.com