Tagaq
Auk/Blood
(Jericho Beach)
Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq Gillis’ debut Sinaa and her collaboration with Björk introduced audiences to the rarely recorded indigenous art form. Tagaq fearlessly experiments with the emotional trance-like quality of her voice. It’s not always accessible, which may be why she includes instrumentation and collaborators. On “Gentle,” Tagaq’s otherworldly singing takes a backseat to Buck 65’s rhymes and beats. She’s on more balanced ground with Jesse Zubot’s violin, appearing on atmospheric tracks like “Tategak.” “Want,” another collaboration with Buck, is hot, with talk of cherries running down chins, mixed with Tagaq’s mysterious calls.
–Sue Carter Flinn
This article appears in Aug 21-27, 2008.