CD Reviews

Tanya Tagaq

Auk/Blood | Ipecac

By MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | September 10, 2008

2.5 Stars

Out of the icy climes of Nunavut, Canada, Tanya Tagaq Gillis has brought the aboriginal throat singing of her Inuit forebears to collaborations with the Kronos Quartet and a featured role on Björk’s Medulla. Her second solo disc blends the native style with distinctly modern forms that range from æthereal to danceable. The opening “Fox/Tiriganiak” is a stark introduction to the primal expressiveness of the art form: though rough and inarticulate, the visceral, glottal sounds that Tagaq generates impart meaning and emotion. Too often, though, she plays a supporting role on her own album. Perhaps not confident that her wordless experiments can sustain attention, she enlists noted growler Mike Patton and Canadian rapper Buck 65 to take the lead on a few tracks. Patton blends well on the radiant “Fire/Ikuma,” but Buck 65’s lazy, hackneyed flow on “Want” and “Gentle” obscure Tagaq’s compositions. When left to her own devices, Tagaq is tantalizing. Her spoken voice is used to great effect on “Hunger,” a sexy prose poem of obsessive devotion accented by her lusty vocalizations. “Tategak” builds a siren’s song on the able violin of Jesse Zubot and culminates in an otherworldly climax. Auk/Blood is a unique exploration of the voice as instrument — Tagaq should not shy from the spotlight.

Related: Zu | Carboniferous, On the Racks: May 30, 2006, Hearing it out, More

Topics: CD Reviews , Mike Patton

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