Tongues - Tanya Tagaq (Album Review)

A riveting experiment at the intersection of spoken word, performance art, and electronica, Tongues by  Tanya Tagaq is an absorbing, challenging, and often uncomfortable listening experience. The imagery throughout the album is fiercely somatic, using the metaphor of tongue removal as a symbol of language and culture loss at the hands of colonization and cultural oppression. 

Teeth Agape again conjures these bodily themes, the maxim 'Touch my children and my teeth welcome your wind pipe'  spat out over an ominous electro beat; it's an effective track. The short Nuclear is a fantastic fusion of obscure vocalizations and capricious music. Do Not Fear Love comes across as a cynical advocacy of Stockholm Syndrome ('Thank them for trying to protect you') and the tracks cogitative synth work make it an album highlight. This is an album for repeated listens and examinations. 

★★★★