Commune follows Goat’s acclaimed 2012 debut World Music, and in no way sees its masked, robed members – who claim to come from a Swedish village with a history of black magic – calming down.
The propulsive grooves, Eastern guitar flourishes, trancey rhythms suggesting techno played by ancient tribespeople – all are present and correct. It’s like a superjam at Womad with a San Francisco psych band, krautrockers and 70s funkadelics. If you want a soundtrack to dance to, but can’t stand modern dance music, this should do it.
Goatchild sounds like an invocation for a ritual involving, well, goats. It’s a riot of wah-wah and fuzz, climaxing with rhythmic and solo extemporisation. Gathering Of Ancient Tribes, with its shouty female vocals, could be Siouxsie moonlighting with the Grateful Dead. Commune may seem a little pat, a compendium of psychedelic, exotic and ethnic sounds, but it makes for a handy compilation. Maybe they should call it Now That’s What I Call World Music 2.
