Often referred to as “the Zambian Beatles” during the ’70s and ’80s, WITCH (short for We Intend To Cause Havoc) have released Sogolo, their second album for this current era after the critically acclaimed Zango from 2023. And it’s every bit as triumphant as the former.

Helmed by legendary vocalist Emanyeo “Jagari” Chanda, a commanding and charismatic frontman, the fire and energy which they absolutely emanate in live settings is present here. This is most apparent in ‘Nadi’, with its heavy, psychedelic riffs, Patrick Mwondela’s keys, and submerged vocals, and the progressive Afrobeat of ‘Queenless King’. They make the stew of Fela Kuti/Jimi Hendrix/garage rock-inspired jams sound endlessly effortless, as though they could knock it out in their sleep. But the textures and tempos are always shifting and the production is future leaning (the album’s title translates into English as “future”.)

It’s deeply infectious, groove-based music, impossible to sit still to, but there is in contrast a yearning, contemplative side brought forth elsewhere: this can be heard on the beautiful, mantra chants of ‘Set Free’ or the lush, tense instrumental ‘(In Memory Of) John’.

WITCH are not a band mired in complacency, or stuck in the past. Their history has been one of immense loss and struggle (they initially disbanded during the AIDS epidemic of 1984), but these new songs of resistance and joy are both hard-won and irresistibly euphoric.