White

Many young bands today are grasping the traditions of the Sámi joik and taking it beyond the northern Sápmi landscapes, celebrating this once-forbidden vocal style. However, Norwegian Torgeir Vassvik, now in his 60s, has been doing this for decades. He grew up with the sound of the joik amid a melting pot of music which shaped his own extraordinary vocal and instrumental style. Working here with the visionary performer, composer and producer Juhani Silvola, they open up yet another world. Silvola’s deep sensitivity to textures and space creates a journey into dark caverns, frozen vistas whose mysterious light takes us beyond horizons, shaping sounds that disturb and soothe. Vassvik honours the traditional joik yet, with Silvola, pushes its boundaries; guitars and percussion urging it on (for example ‘Royal Malabar’) and finding its lyrical soul (‘Photosynthesis’). This duo is utterly compelling.