Though this mysterious Swedish outfit’s backstory – a remote village, an ancient Voodoo curse, pagan idolatry, the channelling of ritual rhythms and a cult-like collective – reads part PR hokum and part wishful thinking, it’s as accurate a starting point as any to convey the intriguing mystical gumbo that lies within.
An astonishing cornucopia of influences and styles could read like a list of hashtags: garage rock, Afrobeat, kraut drone, bhangra, world folk, psych funk… At times, the immediate reference points appear to be Tinariwen jamming with Faust fronted by Natacha Atlas; at others, Amadou and Mariam kicking back with Amorphous Androgynous and Wayne Kramer.
The impossibly expansive musical range is stitched through with some haunting and afro-centric vocals from an unnamed female singer, and a planet-sized bag of tribal percussion and genre-perfect beats. Drop in a rich seam of fun and retro playfulness and you have an extraordinary debut.
