Experimental artist Tanya Tagag seeks 'Retribution' for the world on new release

buzzz worthy. . .

Photo credit: Katrin Braga

Inuk punk Tanya Tagaq’s new album, Retribution, has been released. The improvisational, avant-garde artist has broken into the mainstream with recent coverage from Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, NPR and more. Tagaq’s messages are clear: the Earth is in crisis, and the destruction we have brought upon it is the same devastation we have done to each other. Tagaq speaks resolutely and eloquently on horrifying, harrowing injustices done to women and Indigenous peoples. Tagaq fights against the ethnocentric and hypocritical ignorance of the seal ban, the effects of which have besieged the culture and wellbeing of the Inuit people.   Retribution is about all of these things, and it’s also the best album of Tagaq's career. Early reviews corroborate this sentiment. On her fourth album, Tagaq has harnessed the potency of her live show into a sophisticated, cohesive and commanding work of art.Retribution is generous with collaboration but is intensely, utterly Tagaq.   Hear the age of the Anthropocene, the irreversible impact humankind has had on the planet, in the title track “Retribution.” Imagine the auger methodically scraping through the ever-retreating ice in the song “Cold.” Listen to the exquisite, gnawing cover of Nirvana’s “Rape Me” and think about the thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.   Six Shooter Records has also released a companion to Retribution, a track-by-track album commentary with music critic Carl Wilson. Listen to Tagaq and Wilson discuss the album here.