This may be the first time I’ve written about Tanya Tagaq on this blog, but it won’t be the last. It may not even be the last time this week. But on the song at hand: a collaboration between Tagaq and a Tribe Called Red was a matter of time and fate. On her own, Tagaq’s brand of inuk throat singing is mesmerising; transcendental. But against the backdrop of friends A Tribe Called Red’s colossal beats and production, becomes something even grander. Sonically, “SILA” is a force of nature. In every second of its 3:29, there’s a different texture to explore; a mesmerizing cacophony of beats and screeches and breaths.
“SILA” will be part of A Tribe Called Red’s third album We Are the Halluci, which drops on September 16th. But you can – and absolutely should – get this in your headphones right the hell now.
I wasn’t a hockey fan in 1995, so why did I ask my parents for a Bill Barilko Maple Leafs jersey for my birthday? I’ve been digesting the answer to that, and my greater relationship with their music since they announced Gord Downie’s terminal cancer diagnosis. Nobody would outright declare that the Hip were solely responsible for their understanding of Canadian geography, history or politics. Likewise, no one would say the Hip were the only ones exposing them to other important Canadian artists. But the Hip were the only ones who brought all of that into one package you could digest at 12, 16, 20 and 40. They grew up while I did. They learned life lessons while I did. They were kindred spirits. They were ours.
As a body of work, but also as a cultural experience, the Tragically Hip represent a series of life lessons that the passage of time, nor the agony of their loss cannot erode.
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