GÅTE are streaming "Sigil" in full. All ten songs are playing on the Season of Mist YouTube channel a day ahead of the album's release tomorrow, Friday, September 25.
Four of the ten have been out for a while — "Oskorsreia", "Sannsiger", "Strandvaskar" and "Mi Jord" — which leaves six heard today for the first time. The whole record runs 36 minutes and 53 seconds, and it is worth noting how short that is for an album carrying this much conceptual weight. Nothing on it reaches five minutes.
The instrumentation is where GÅTE keep earning their reputation. Hardanger fiddle has always been their signature, but "Sigil" widens the bench: nyckelharpa and hurdy-gurdy move through the record alongside dark electronics, heavy guitar and Gunnhild Sundli's vocals. It is a combination that should sound like a museum exhibit and instead sounds like a band. The label describes the album's arc as running from enchantment and insatiable hunger through prophecy and mortality toward a closing sense of renewal, which tracks with a sequence that ends on "Jostedalsrypa" — the Norwegian legend of the child who survived the Black Death alone in the mountains.
"Sannsiger", the single featuring Maria Franz of Season of Mist labelmates HEILUNG, has picked up an award since release: according to the label it won the World category in Session I of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.
"Sigil" track listing:
- Bergteken (4:44)
- Oskorsreia (3:08)
- Sannsiger (3:43)
- Nokon (3:10)
- Bòd frå djupet (3:45)
- Strandvaskar (3:27)
- Songen (3:38)
- Aude (3:54)
- Mi Jord (3:44)
- Jostedalsrypa (3:39)
Total runtime: 36:53
Physical editions run to a CD digipak with a 12-page booklet and three 12-inch vinyl variants — black, copper and crystal clear — each in a gatefold sleeve with a double-sided insert, the copper and clear pressings cut at 33 rpm.
The band take "Sigil" out on the road next month: ten dates from October 23 to November 21, covering nine Norwegian cities and finishing in Istanbul.
| Date | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 23 | Trondheim, NO | Havet |
| Oct 30 | Drammen, NO | Union |
| Oct 31 | Oslo, NO | Sentrum Scene |
| Nov 05 | Haugesund, NO | Høvleriet |
| Nov 06 | Stavanger, NO | Folken |
| Nov 07 | Bergen, NO | Verftet |
| Nov 12 | Skien, NO | Parkbiografen |
| Nov 13 | Moss, NO | Verket Scene |
| Nov 14 | Hamar, NO | Festiviteten |
| Nov 21 | Istanbul, TR | IF Performance |
GÅTE have been doing this for over two decades. Their 2002 debut "Jygri" entered the Norwegian albums chart at number one and won them the Spellemann Award — the Norwegian Grammy — for Best Newcomer, and they represented Norway at the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. Very few bands have carried centuries-old ballads onto that particular stage and come back with their credibility intact.