Tanya Tagaq: Animism (Six Shooter) Not a new album—released in May of last year and won the Polaris Music Prize, which Tagaq utilized to say, “F*ck PETA” during her acceptance speech. But it just came to the U.S. in 2015, and I can’t say I’m not prone to a certain Yank naiveté when it comes to releases outside of the States. Still, 2015 or not, this is the most original, engaging, and exciting record I’ve heard this year. Beginning with a cover of Pixies’ “Caribou,” which introduces the titular theme, every song occupies us with Tagaq’s distinctive style of singing before the music—including but not limited to synths, horns, and one of the richest drum sounds in recent years—takes it all home. Despite having the intimidating title of Inuk throat singer, her sound is not too far from other artsy weirdoes like tUnE-yArDs, Fiona Apple, and even early Björk, and like all of them, she can occasionally be hard to listen to. But she always meets you halfway, like on “Fight,” where a synth bass comes in during the last 30 seconds to steal the show—a perfect moment that is almost inaudible without headphones. But if you listen to this without headphones, you’re doing it wrong. A
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