Studio Soundtrack features five songs selected by a student at UWSA. I’ve snuck in a few extras this time.
Tanya Tagaq performing in St. George’s Church, Guelph, and an early twentieth century postcard depicting the same space.
What do you get when you mix Inuit throat singing, a nineteenth-century Gothic church, and resonant vocals backed by twangy guitars? One of the Hillside Inside concerts earlier this month, featuring Tanya Tagaq and Timber Timbre in the sanctuary of St. George’s Church in Guelph. Hillside Inside is the smaller, indoor winter version of the illustrious Hillside Festival. The original Hillside takes place each summer at the Guelph Lake Conservation Area and includes camping, delicious local food, fun workshops, an incredibly friendly atmosphere, and, of course, a phenomenal line-up of live performances by musicians in a variety of genres. Last year’s Hillside marked the festival’s thirtieth anniversary, and if you’ve never been, it is definitely worth checking out – its longevity is proof of its awesomeness. This extended edition of Studio Soundtrack is inspired by this year’s Hillside Inside, which featured a range of Canadian artists in venues around Guelph.
I was blown away by Tagaq’s set of improvised, non-traditional solo Inuit throat singing, which is usually done by two women facing each other. She performed with DJ Michael Red, who provided instrumental accompaniment with recordings of landscape sounds from Tagaq’s native Nunavut, such as flowing water or crunching snow. The song was riveting, from deep screams that echoed against the church walls to calm, melodic digressions, and I was hooked. When it was finally over, I felt a great sense of liberation. But it’s not something that can easily be described – my companion and I both agreed that Tagaq’s sense of physicality was vital to the quality of the performance.
The set by Timber Timbre was a huge contrast to the first part of the concert. After intermission, we once more took our seats in the pews and were treated to the steady, twangy guitars and reverberating vocals that are the band’s hallmarks. Before this show, I had not been familiar with Timber Timbre at all, but by the end I was well acquainted with their sound. Images of graveyards and/or seedy motels plagued me through most of the show, and I found it hard to distinguish between one song and the next. But there were many fans in the audience, and I had discovered something about my own musical tastes. That’s the beauty of Hillside and its smaller, indoor cousin: they’re sure to expose you to aural experiences you’ve never had before.
Tanya Tagaq – Force
Timber Timbre – Black Water
Whitehorse – Devil’s Got a Gun
The Darcys – Horses Fell
July Talk – Paper Girl
A Tribe Called Red – Look at This
Tanya Tagaq – Ancestors (with Björk)
I am a graduate student at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture, currently completing my MArch thesis on the design and collective memory of Indian residential schools in Canada.
