Unsung Irregular

Werkha’s third full-length album, Unsung Irregular, feels like the moment his intricate world of jazzy, breakbeat-brushed electronics fully coheres. Across 11 tracks, he blends analogue warmth, meticulous sound design and off-kilter rhythms with the ease of someone who has been carving out his own lane for years. The record includes the singles S-Bend and Toast Rack alongside two striking collaborations: Everyday featuring Ríoghnach Connolly, and Narrow In with Daudi Matsiko. Both artists, rooted in folk traditions, bring an earthy, human edge that mirrors the natural imagery threaded throughout Werkha’s productions.

At its core, Unsung Irregular is a deeply personal project. It confronts hidden disabilities through a lens that is as empathetic as it is inventive, turning physical discomfort into something fluid and rhythmic. Rather than dwell solely on chronic pain, the album reframes it as movement and resilience. Scoliosis has shaped Tom Leah’s life in ways seen and unseen, and the album maps those lines with candour and imagination.

The details make it vivid: field recordings, sculpted vocal textures, geographic markers, and compositions tied to physical spaces. Toast Rack nods to architecture; By Helm and Weak Point echo real-world locations linked to recovery. It’s a record that transforms biography into audio cartography.

Yet Unsung Irregular reaches beyond the personal. Werkha speaks to a wider, often silent community of people living with hidden conditions, carrying their struggles privately. Through rich storytelling and finely tuned production, he offers space, connection and a sense of shared experience. As he puts it himself, the album is about giving a voice to quiet battles, and encouraging others to acknowledge their own irregularities.

Born in Rusholme, the Manchester multi-instrumentalist has built a catalogue defined by curiosity and collaboration, from his early releases on Tru Thoughts to his more recent work with First Word Records. His list of collaborators reads like a cross-section of modern, boundary-pushing music, from Quantic and Marcos Valle to Andrew Ashong, Keisha Thompson and Bryony Jarman-Pinto.

Live, Werkha shifts effortlessly between full-band energy and intimate solo sets, having toured with Bonobo, Chet Faker, Rebecca Vasmant and Mr Scruff, while appearing at venues such as The Roundhouse, The Jazz Café and Manchester Cathedral, and festivals including Glastonbury, We Out Here, Latitude and SXSW. His DJ credentials are equally strong, with mixes for Selector Radio, BBC 6 Music, NTS, Primavera and Reform Radio.

Unsung Irregular is his most thematically rich and emotionally resonant album to date. It’s music as movement, as healing, as self-definition. Above all, it’s Werkha turning irregularity into something quietly triumphant.