Thursday night and Camelot Lounge is pumping with a mixed, almost unexpected crowd, melding young and old, with a few kids thrown into the mix for good measure.

They’re here to see The Three Seas, a six-piece cross-cultural fusion group composed of Raju Das Baul (vocals, khamak), Gaurab “Gaboo” Chatterjee (vocals, drums, dupki, guitar), Brendan Clark (electric bass), Hilary Geddes (guitar, FX), Matt Keegan (baritone saxophone, harmonium) and Deoashish Mothey (vocals, dotora, esraj, guitar).

It’s clear during the performance that the artists have a deep affection for each other, and the masterful weaving of jazz, Bengali folk and spiritual rhythm into a vivid tapestry produces a uniquely, complexly layered sound.

Gaurab “Gaboo” Chatterjee and Matt Keegan. Photo © Jif Morrison

The show opens subtly with Santiniketan, a highly textural piece – a mesmerising, slowly building fusion of sounds and rhythms, with Matt Keegan on baritone saxophone delivering a stirring melody over the percussive layers.

Throughout the two sets, each artist and instrument are given space to play in a way that feels freeing and expansive. It is a delight to witness Geddes’s two solos take her to different improvised places than is her usual style. Keegan brings a strong physicality to his playing, which is a joy to watch on stage, and Raju Das Baul sings with impressive vocal clarity.

Perhaps the most interesting works are songs such as Kites, with Mothey on the dotora (affectionately referred to as the Bengali banjo), and Baul Country, with its complicated rhythmic structure driven by Raju Das Baul on the khamak, a traditional stringed percussion instrument from Bengal, Odisha and Northeast India – a wooden bowl with a skin head played under the arm by plucking a string to produce a distinct, twangy rhythmic sound.

The Three Seas’ sound is both transporting and immersive, drawing listeners into rich tableaux of spiritualism and mysticism. Their latest album, Antaḥkaraṇa, translates from Sanskrit as “inner instrument,” referring to the meeting place of memory, intuition and identity – an idea clearly reflected in their music. The result is a near-perfect musical fusion where the mystical and mythical meet, combining symbolism and metaphor with influences from Baul mysticism, Himalayan folk, rock, dub and jazz.

The Three Seas play The Music Lounge, Wollongong Town Hall, 1 May.