Adjagas

From the wild gypsy fling of Gogol Bordello to the Balkan psych-folk of Beirut, in the past year indie rock has embraced world music like never before.

Now come Adjagas, a young duo from the Sami people, better known for herding reindeer in northern Scandinavia than rock’n’roll. Produced by Andreas Mjos, their debut combines traditional Sami folk melodies with the sort of ethereal indie cool patented by the Cocteau Twins or late-period Talk Talk. There is a touch of Björk and Sigur Rós about some of their more glacial soundscapes, while in other places they play something that can only be described as Arctic blues. A strikingly beautiful way to begin the new year.


Nigel Williamson
- The Times

On first exposure, everything about Adjagas seems alien: the duo's roots in the indigenous Sami population of northern Scandinavia, their language (the Sami have 10 different dialects, in one of which adjagas describes the mental state between sleeping and waking), and their use of traditional yoiks: allusive, deeply personal songs that have no beginning or end and have been described as "musical landscape painting".

The vocals, somehow reminiscent of both native American chants and Indian classical music, take some getting used to. In fact, on the jerky, spartan Dolgematki, they are absolutely maddening - but Adjagas's musical language is international.

You can hear traces of Sigur Ros's wintry sparkle, Air's rippling warmth and the narcoleptic mantras of Mazzy Star, relocated from the desert to the Arctic tundra. On tracks such as Siivu and Ozan, the dialogue between ancient and modern, known and unknown, is spellbinding.

Dorian Lynskey - The Guardian