Jinja Safari Take The Wraps Off Debut Album

Sydney-based indie act Jinja Sarafi have unleashed the release date for their debut record, one of the most highly-anticipated Australian debut albums this year, a 12-track exploration through cultural styles set to hit shelved mid-May.

The self-titled record is a mixture of international flavours, merging sounds from Africa and India, to create an alternate indie and pop release.

Jinja Safari's frontman Marcus Azon and producer and collaborator Pepa Knight travelled across a range on continents, allowing themselves to be influenced by the sounds they heard in India, Cambodia, Indonesia, the UK, the US, Germany, Canada and Uganda, where town is located that inspired the band's name.

“Because we're so heavily influenced by world music it was important for us to visit places, and reflect as much of that back into our music,” said Azon.

“All of those places were a really important part of creating this album.

“We wanted it to be authentic – not just an outsider's perspective. There's a lot of stories here.”

Jinja Safari is released on May 17 through new label Island Records, with new single Plagiarist to be released on Wednesday.

Here's a taste of what fans can expect.