Copal

Much of what’s marketed as “world music” is thin stuff with roots barely an inch deep and often in poor soil. Copal is among the exceptions. On their debut album, the New York group is at once deeply grounded yet universal, electronic and organic, hypnotic and gently ecstatic. Driving Copal’s sound is violinist Hannah Thiem, who carries the melodies and their variations against unswerving rhythmic backdrops. Although much of the music resonates to the sustained drones and minor keys of Eastern Europe and the Near East, Thiem speaks German in the blank-voiced love lyric of “Ether.” Minimalist pulses and sparse, solemn drumbeats are the rule, although the up-tempo “Ceutara” could fill dance floors.