Deep-Dive: The Masked Mysticism of Goat
- Phoebe Davidson
- May 15
- 7 min read
Once upon a time, in a small, remote village in the North of Sweden, a group of children grew up in a peaceful commune, surrounded by the lingering echoes of a rich local voodoo history. Still in diapers, the children heard stories about a witch doctor who had strolled into town centuries earlier. When Christian crusaders learned of her presence, they burned the village to the ground, forcing its inhabitants to flee. In response, the villagers placed a curse on the land.
Raised within a rich history of tradition, the children came of age immersed in a deeply communal way of life. They lived, worked, meditated, and learned side by side, playing soccer, riding reindeer, and jamming to punk music together after school. Their elders raised them to care for one another, reject individualism in favor of a higher power, and explore this spirituality through music. In shared rituals, they discovered how to channel percussion, strings, and their own voices—whatever instruments they had—into a collective search for transcendence through sound.
As adults, these kids became the latest incarnation of a band born from the roots of their small spiritual commune. Their vibrant psychedelic sound defies time and genre, purging individuality to form one singular yet ever-expanding musical collective.
For decades, Goat created music together, protected within the communal bubble of Korpilombolo, the small Swedish village they came from. Then, sometime in the 2010s, they were discovered and signed to the UK’s Rocket Recordings. Their debut album, World Music, catapulted them onto the global scene in 2012. Since then, the seven-piece band has played Glastonbury and Coachella, embarked on a U.S. tour, and performed at countless festivals—all while donning elaborate identity-concealing masks and costumes, maintaining an air of (almost) complete anonymity.
Goat’s secrecy is a well-worn trope in music history, reminiscent of artists like MF Doom, Daft Punk, and The Residents. Yet after years of listening to Goat without knowing who they were, the eventual revelation of their identities landed without shock. Their explosive, shamanic sound only magnifies the aura of mysticism, making their anonymity feel not just intentional but essential. It’s easy to imagine a band of faceless children wandering barefoot through the Swedish wilderness, bound together by a shared devotion to creativity and a quiet rebellion against the world order.
A Sound in Constant Motion
Drugged-out psychedelia, Afrobeats, and instrumentation from krautrock to Anatolian funk: Goat’s influences fuse to create a sound perpetually in motion, laced with mysticism and an almost spiritual pull. That transcendence isn’t accidental. In a rare 2012 interview, a spokesperson for the band, “Goatman,” described the spirituality embedded in their music:
"We are all deeply religious. All of us spiritually connected by constant transcendental meditation to the overwhelming experience of being part of the universe."
Often from the first beat, Goat launches into a cacophony of guitars and drums, punctuated by the occasional chanting and shouts that breathe life into their music. Listening to their more intense tracks, like “Golden Dawn,” feels like a headlong charge, whether in pursuit or escape, summoning a force equal to the song’s relentless energy.
Truthfully, the idyllic origin story Goat has slowly revealed over their career could all be a ruse, but that ambiguity is central to their appeal. The collective has kept its anonymity almost entirely intact over the nearly 13 years since their first official release.
Origins: The Subversion of the Individual
Goat is now based in Gothenburg, but at least half of the seven-piece band hail from Korpilombolo, Sweden, a village of about 500 people. Local legend speaks of a voodoo witch doctor and a curse cast upon the land. The name “Goat” refers to the commune where most of its members were raised, though, according to them, the band has 2,500 members.
Over the years, in sporadic press releases and anonymous interviews, the group has revealed glimpses of their upbringing. The commune is rooted in universalism and united by shared values of travel, curiosity, and spiritual exploration. Their music-making is a practice in radical openness, an attempt to create total unity and tap into the divine.
Goat rejects any imposed political or social meaning in their music, insisting that interpretations reflect the listener rather than their intent. To them, music is a spontaneous creation divorced from any preconceived message or consequence.
Still, their debut album’s title, World Music, stirred controversy. Some fans saw this categorization as a statement against the Western-centric categorization of all non-Western genres as “World Music.” Others questioned whether a Scandinavian band borrowing and benefiting from African, Middle Eastern, and Latin American sounds was indulging in cultural appropriation. These accusations are often dismissed in the music world, seeing as global collaboration has always been a central facet of musical innovation throughout history. Goat, similarly, has dismissed these accusations altogether, arguing their music is simply a reflection of their global influences and a natural extension of the musical traditions they grew up with.
For Goat, the mystical origin story isn’t a gimmick: it’s just who they are. Their music has always been the product of spontaneous, collaborative jams; across seven studio albums, live recordings, and a catalog of singles, Goat’s sound, while experimental, is relatively consistent.
The Sound: A Ritual in Motion
Each of Goat’s works carries a mystic, almost ominous energy, driven by unpredictable instrumental swells that either keep you on edge or pull you into a trance. You never know quite where they’re going, but you can expect explosive, entrancing rhythms, searing guitar solos, and the occasional flutes or haunting vocals to drift in and transfix you with a few philosophical lines.
Take “Goathead,” the third track on their debut album. From the first beat, the piece pulses with relentless energy, building into a storm of chanting voices and electric guitar riffs. Midway through, the chaos screeches to a halt, dissolving into breezy acoustics and the sound of crashing waves. In seconds, you’re transported from a whirlwind of sound to a place of serene reflection. The song, in Goat’s brilliant way, takes you outside of yourself to usher in meditative reflection.
Discography
The band’s eclectic, maximalist approach has taken them many places over the years, floating from the scorch of desert rock to the fuzzy depths of garage rock and psychedelia. Though they perform live as a seven-piece, Goat’s studio recordings are open to anyone who wishes to join; this spirit of unity and openness pulsing through their sound. In a kaleidoscope of moving parts —the vibrational pull of dozens of instruments colored by voices in harmony— Goat somehow transforms into one collective identity. This is the key to their sound and part of the reason for their elaborate masks; their anonymity to the world helps them to feel and play as one.
This sense of wholeness applies to most of their discography. The cyclical nature of life and death is a central tenet of their religious beliefs: they aim to convey a sense of infinite interconnection with each release. Most of their works are intended to be listened to from start to finish, and they connect most palpably in the first and last song, as if returning to life in death. Their first release, World Music, is the only exception to this stylistic consistency: the group recorded a random assortment of songs, new and old, and threw them together in a compilation for Rocket Recordings. Even so, it offered a striking preview of what was to come, introducing Goat’s eclectic, genre-defying sound to the world.
World Music Tracks to Check Out:
"Let it Bleed"
"Golden Dawn"
"Run to Your Mama"
Goat followed up with a live album in 2013, and Commune was released the next fall. Both the opening track, “Talk to God,” and the closing “Gathering of Ancient Tribes” are awash in the haunting sonoric reverb of a Buddhist prayer bowl. In Goat’s way, it ends with the beginning. With their second release, the collective clarified their purpose in music-making: to evoke a profound, sacred sense of unity enriched by diversity and expansion.
Commune Tracks to Check Out:
"Gathering of Ancient Tribes"
"Talk to God"
"To Travel the Path Unknown"
“There is only one true meaning of life and that is to be a positive force in the constant creation of evolution.”
The palpable sense of unity in Goat’s music and group identity is accompanied by several paradoxes: they employ traditional music-making techniques while incorporating innovative, global sounds. Similarly, they seem to situate themselves as sacred purveyors of authenticity, meanwhile their public personas are shrouded in a masked mysticism. These contradictions serve the band well, as this intrigue is arguably a large part of their appeal to fans.
World Music remains the group's most-streamed album, despite many releases in the 13 years since then. 2016’s Requiem is widely considered to be their folk album. Despite tracks that feel slightly more subdued, songs like “Try My Robe” and “All-Seeing-Eye” are consistent with the group’s commitment to searing guitar riffs and lush, funky percussion.
More Tracks to Check Out:
"I Sing in Silence"
"Goatfuzz"
"Trouble in the Streets"
The 2020s infused Goat’s sound with a twang of hip-hop, danceable synths, and new shamanic overtones. Their 2022 Oh Death, while one of the least impressive of their albums, is made interesting by its use of jazzy percussion and post-punk guitar riffs. Medicine came the next year, favoring Swedish folk instrumentation over their usual African styles. The band also produced the score to the BBC’s The Gallows Pole in 2023 and 2024.
In their 2024 self-titled album, Goat takes the listener on a psychedelic journey through the transformation from life to death and back again. The music is embedded in the ancient concept of ouroboros, symbolized by the iconic visual of a snake eating its tail. The album is packed full of the typical fusion of fuzzed-out funk, desert, and garage rock, but enhanced by jazzy tracks like “Fool’s Journey”.
The Myth and the Mystery
Goat’s carefully crafted anonymity has always been a core part of their identity. Yet, cracks in their mythology have appeared over time. In 2016, “Goatman” gave his first unmasked interview with The Guardian, contradicting elements of their backstory. They can’t seem to keep it straight— sometimes claiming they've made music for 30 years, other times saying their musical practice is centuries old. Still, whenever pressed on their secrecy, Goat remains unfazed.
"Nothing is secret? We are a voodoo sect from northern Sweden that worships everything from Shiva to Oden. And we play music in masks. Where is the secret?"
Goat has always presented itself as a force of authenticity— a collective rejecting ego in favor of spiritual unity. Whether you believe in their legend or not, their music speaks for itself. We all live in collectives, Goat urges, we just don’t always recognize them as such. Through their music, they push us to see these connections and use them as tools for creativity and survival. No mysticism necessary.
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