Sex Magick Wizards – Suola ja Noaidi (Is it Jazz? Records, 2026)
The intersection of indigenous tradition and creative music in Scandinavia has produced a wide range of compelling work in recent years. Suola ja Noaidi (The Thief and the Shaman), a double album, presents Norwegian-Sámi quartet Sex Magick Wizards who bring together joik, free improvisation, psychedelic rock and avant-garde compositions to create a work that is musically adventurous.
The album focuses on topics such as colonization, religious oppression and Sámi resilience. Vocals play a more prominent role than on previous releases, with fragments of Northern Sámi from the source poem woven together with newly written texts in Northern Sámi and English. The result is a vocal language that functions as both a storytelling device and musical instrument.
Guitarist, vocalist and joiker Viktor Bomstad leads the project throughout. His performances bridge ancestral tradition and contemporary experimentation. Saxophonist and flutist Sigrid Aftret contributes some of the album’s most striking improvisational passages, while bassist Henrik Sandstad Dalen and drummer Ingvald André Vassbø respond with nuance and occasional bursts of raw energy.
A reinterpretation of a traditional joik from Bomstad’s childhood home of Ivgorášša provides one of the album’s strongest connections to Sámi musical heritage. Elsewhere, the ensemble favors open forms that allow improvisation to emerge organically from recurring melodies, drones and rhythmic figures. Although the music often ventures into dense and turbulent territory, the quartet maintains a clear sense of direction.
Henrik Sørlid created the cover artwork from collages by Sámi artist Ingunn Utsi.
Traxk list:
- Without My Wings
- Transform
- These are Spirits
- Suola Ja Noaidi
- Ipmilan
- Mouth of a thousand flames
- Ledjen go mun goassege dás?
- Murjjiid geđggiid rásiid
- To Sing These Spirits Once Again
- I’d rather break
- I leave, I return
- Old Unbaptized Realms
Tour:
05.09.26 Riksscenen
12.09.26 Arendal Rockklubb
30.09.26 Wild Rover, Aachen
01.10.26 Neue Zukunft @unlimited_sonic_use_booking
02.10.26 Tor 9, Bremen
03.10.26 KuBa, Jena
04.10.26 IMMERHIN WÜRZBURG
05.10.26 Ostpol Dresden
07.10.26 TBA, Leipzig
08.10.26 Clubhouse SV Arminia, Hannover
09.10.26 KoFabrik
10.10.26 Sojo Orange Factory
24.10.26 Høstsabbat