Animism is the third studio album by Canadian Inuk musician Tanya Tagaq, released May 27, 2014 on Six Shooter Records.[1] The album won the 2014 Polaris Music Prize on September 22, 2014,[2] and the Juno Award for Aboriginal Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2015.[3] It was also a shortlisted nominee for the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year, but did not win.

Animism
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 27, 2014
GenreInuit throat singing
Length49:02
LabelSix Shooter Records
ProducerJesse Zubot
Tanya Tagaq chronology
Anuraaqtuq
(2011)
Animism
(2014)
Retribution
(2016)

Tagaq has described the album as more consciously political than her earlier work.[4] The political themes culminate in the album's final track, "Fracking", in which Tagaq vocalizes the Earth's cries of pain as it is subjected to hydraulic fracturing.[5] Cyborg Feminist writer Donna Haraway discussed the album in her work Staying With The Trouble where she argued that Animism "embraced oppositions and conflicts, not to purify them, but to live inside complexities of shared flesh."[6]

The album was produced by Jesse Zubot,[7] and features musical contributions from percussionist Jean Martin and opera singer Anna Pardo Canedo.[7] In addition to the album's Juno Award nominations, Zubot was a nominee for Producer of the Year for the album tracks "Caribou" and "Uja".

"Caribou" is a cover of a song by noted American alternative rock band Pixies.

Track listing

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No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Caribou"Charles Thompson4:53
2."Uja"
2:49
3."Umingmak"
  • Tagaq
  • Zubot
  • Martin
  • Red
3:56
4."Genetic Memory"
  • Tagaq
  • Zubot
  • Red
1:36
5."Rabbit"
  • Tagaq
  • Zubot
  • Martin
  • Red
4:05
6."Tulugak"
  • Tagaq
  • Zubot
  • Martin
8:57
7."Howl"
  • Tagaq
  • Zubot
  • Red
3:10
8."Flight"
  • Tagaq
  • Anna Pardo Canedo
4:40
9."Fight"
  • Tagaq
  • Zubot
  • Martin
  • Red
3:29
10."Damp Animal Spirits"
  • Tagaq
  • Zubot
  • Martin
7:23
11."Fracking"
  • Tagaq
  • Zubot
4:02

Six Shooter also released a single-LP edition on coloured vinyl, consisting of tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 2, 7, 10 and 11, in that order, with four songs on each side.

References

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  1. ^ "First Play: Tanya Tagaq, Animism" Archived 2016-03-01 at the Wayback Machine. CBC Music, May 20, 2014.
  2. ^ "Polaris Music Prize 2014: Tanya Tagaq wins $30K prize". CBC News, September 22, 2014.
  3. ^ "2015 Junos: Bahamas, Arkells, Rush big winners at 'Junos Eve' gala" Archived 2016-03-01 at the Wayback Machine. CBC Music, March 14, 2015.
  4. ^ "Tanya Tagaq’s new album captures the spirit of good and evil" Archived 2014-10-10 at the Wayback Machine. Nunatsiaq News, May 16, 2014.
  5. ^ " Album Review: Tanya Tagaq's Throaty, Grunting 'Animism'". Indian Country Today, July 7, 2014.
  6. ^ Haraway, Donna (2016). Staying With The Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. United States of America: Duke University Press. pp. 164–5. ISBN 978-0-8223-6224-1.
  7. ^ a b "Tanya Tagaq: Anger Management". Exclaim!, July 2014.