Swedish masked psych warriors, Goat, have managed to create their own distinct niche. No other band has quite their image or sound, even though their music manages to combine many elements: psychedelia, wild guitar soloing, tribal percussion and chants. It feels appropriate that their latest album, eponymously titled, coincides with them releasing their own set of tarot cards. They describe them as “a playful and beautiful deck that will contain all the important symbolism and still be easy and fun to read. A humble and grand instrument in the service of the cosmos.” This could be an apt description of their music. It is an overwhelming joyous sound to which, like tarot, meaning can be ascribed even if it could as easily be complete hokum.
Over the course of its eight tracks, the album often feels like a set of ceremonial rituals. The production is excellent, providing a lively full band sound but being unafraid to whack individual elements up front into the spotlight. Opening track, ‘One More Death’, is representative of the familiar Goat sound. After emerging out of what could be bones recongregating from the grave, it quickly shapes up into an insistent psych-funk groover with chanted vocals. There are bursts of filthy guitar soloing but also moments where the playing takes on a distinctly Middle Eastern tinge.
‘Goatbrain’ is served on a plate constructed out of an infectiously groovy bass line, horns and flutes weave attractive patterns while the female vocals are raw before being daubed with fuzz guitar to complete it. In contrast, ‘Fool’s Journey’ launches into more esoteric areas. There is a taste of free jazz in its piano and flute arrangement backed with percussion whose time-signature would be difficult to define but it is definitely not 4-4.
‘Dollar Bill’ has the sort of huge drenched wah-wah riff that would be the ideal soundtrack to a 1970s movie about a character of dubious moral compass yet who radiates charisma. The band’s love of hip hop is apparent in the backbeat and piano of ‘Zombie’. Its percussive showboating is especially thrilling while the fuzzed-out guitar solos burst out of the speakers.
‘Frisco Beaver’ sees them seeking “higher ways of life beyond the sun” and instructs “do what you need.” Propelled by the sort of guitar sounds that could have appeared on the Nigeria 70 compilation and decorated with wonky keyboards, it sees Goat at their most primeval and exciting. The mood shifts with ‘The All is One’ which presents a more pastoral element of the band, echoes of nature and birdsong over twangy guitar, rounded off with a voice saying that he thinks “god could be the source from which all living things come.”
The album ends with the seven-minute plus ‘Ouroboros’. The title refers to the image of a dragon or snake eating its own tail. Alternatively, this can be read as reflecting the brutality of nature, the duality of the earthly and divine in mankind or the endless cycle of death and rebirth. Whatever the interpretation, the music is ceremonial yet joyous in its delightful alliance of nimble funk, fuzz, breakbeats, horns and chant. It absolutely races through its extended running time.
While it would be excessive to describe Goat as the greatest of all time, this album confirms that they shine in their unique field.
Goat: Goat – Out 11 October 2024 (Rocket Recordings)
– Ouroboros (Radio Edit) (youtube.com)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
