Scotland 2018 feels like a long way from Nirvana. I’m not referring to the political situation, but the veggie restaurant in Jodhpur where the Shoogles first talked about recording an album at the Mehrangarh Fort with Dhun Dhora, the Rajasthani band they had been collaborating with for the preceding few years.

That was October 2015 and no one was sure it would even be possible. Often referred to as the ‘eighth wonder of the world’ the Fort is the erstwhile seat of the Maharaja of Marwar-Jodhpur and home to one of the most significant museums in India. However, with the help of Divya Bhatia of Jodhpur Riff, a festival that takes place in the Fort each year, we were able to get the green light from the Mehrangarh Museum Trust and HH Maharaja Gaj Singhji. Funding was sought and secured. And a plan was put in place for recording with Dhun Dhora in October 2016.

We should have been delighted. But it was becoming increasingly obvious that our fiddle player Angus R Grant was very unwell, and a couple of months after being diagnosed with terminal cancer he died. This was October 2016, just at the moment when we should have been recording with him in Rajasthan.

The sands were shifting beneath our feet, and plans for this album put on hold as the band took time out to grieve. Then in February 2017 we received word that Dhun Dhora’s effervescent dholak player Roshan Khan had been killed in a road accident. Now completing the album took on a new significance and a new momentum, with both bands recognising the need to add fuel to the fire that Angus and Roshan had started.

So, in September 2017 the Shoogles finally arrived at the Fort with producer Ben Seal and myself in tow. Dhun Dhora had also made it to Jodphur from their desert home. Both bands brought tunes and songs and over a period of two weeks they played together, experimented, laughed, debated and recorded.

The studio was rigged in the 17th century Chokelao Palace, formerly the Maharaja’s guest quarters, in a room painted in stunning floor to ceiling murals. Not your average recording space.

Suffice to say there were many challenges. Not least the 40 degree heat that was melting us, the instruments and even some of the Indians.

Shooglenifty had to work with adjusting their instruments to singer Dayam’s ‘sa’ – a tuning that suits the resonance of his voice. This meant that they had to tune down just over a quarter of a tone, making the instruments behave and sound unusual. For Dhun Dhora, the experience of shortening their tunes to fit with the recording was curious, but something they very quickly adapted to.

The Shoogles know that they just took a few steps into the very deep well of Rajasthani music and provided Dhun Dhora with only an introduction to what they know of their own traditions and influences (it would probably take a lifetime to do otherwise and we just had two weeks). As Ewan says ‘Dhun Dhora’s music contains many facets. There’s chaos and beauty, bravado and respect, moments of ear splitting madness, deep universal understanding, and extreme calm. It’s wild, free, bright and bold.’ I could easily describe Shooglenifty’s essence in similar terms.

Looking back, these were beautiful, magical days, full of humour and learning, but when we left with the hard drive of tunes and songs, no one was really sure what had been captured. Meticulous editing, and inspired mixing by Ben Seal and the Shoogles, has revealed an incredibly special and unbelievably moving work. It’s a skilfully balanced collaboration where I think both bands are faithfully represented. And if you listen carefully, you’ll know that Angus and Roshan are in there too.

I’m not often moved to superlatives, but as I listen to the last note of Written in Water drifting away, I find a wee bit of nirvana remains. And this time I’m definitely not talking about a veggie restaurant …