BeatRoute Magazine [AB] print e-edition - [November 2017]

ROOTS
HERMITESS
Jennifer Crighton cuts to the core in a cold Michigan winter
by B. Simm
was a space of a few years there where I didn’t have a playable
harp. Because this is the first solo work I’ve released it maybe
seems like a departure from the projects I’ve been playing with
more recently, but at it’s core this is the way I’ve always written
music, This is just the first time I’ve actually recorded and released
my own solo stuff. Probably the most obvious influences
on this record are dreamy British folk bands like Pentangle and
Fairport Convention colliding with the formative soundtrack of
my youth, such as Portishead and Björk.
Anyone familiar with Jennifer Crighton as an artist, a
musician knows she’s intelligent, intense, fearless, funny,
provocative and uncompromising with her creations.
Her latest endeavour, a true woodshedding project,
pushes the boundaries of her own self-reflection and soul
searching with Hermitess — a stark, sometimes haunting,
sometimes angelic musical journey guided by the harp
and female voices that delve deep into the inner regions
of the self determined to define what wasn’t before.
To boldly go...
Hermitess... Is that name a play on Hermetics: the spiritual,
magical, philosophical account of the universe? What is the
reference or origins the name comes from?
JC: The name is a feminization of the word Hermit, more
specifically the Hermit card which is part of the major arcana in
a traditional tarot deck. So yes, it does have kind of a spiritual
element, but i don’t directly associate it with Hermetics the
religion, to me it’s more the way it’s interpreted in tarot – a
period of spiritual introspection carried out in isolation from
others, so a very personal internal journey, In this instance specifically
identified with a rejected or outcast feminine, someone
that throughout history might very well have been called a
witch. That was both a guiding archetype for the project and
literally the context in which I wrote it – having been created
over the course of a two week artist residency in complete
isolation in a cabin miles from nowhere in the middle of the
winter of northern Michigan.
In certain ways this recording, largely defined and directed
by traditional harp music, feels like a radical departure from
your other projects, such as the psych-rock forays of Devonian
Gardens. At the same time the kind of harp recordings
you’re making with Hermitess carry the acoustic elements of
psychedelia found in the ‘60s Californian wave of hippydom.
What was the attraction to the harp, and what periods of its
history weave its way into Hemitess?
JC: Haha, I’m not a very traditional harpist. I’ve been playing it
since I was 10 years old, and writing songs with the instrument
almost as long. When I moved with my original acoustic harp
from BC to Alberta, and then started gigging with The Consonant
C, it succumbed – the soundboard cracked. So there
ROOTS
The songs themselves are moody, reflective and the lyrics
seem metaphorical in that they intend to relay strong
emotional and personal stories. “Vampires”, for instance, a
bit spooky but possesses a message about warding off evils,
social and personal, simply by staring evil in the eye, addressing
the reality, and not succumbing to its threat. What
are some of the underlying meanings to these songs?
JC: It’s not an unfamiliar story at the moment, but I had
someone in a position of professional power bully me and treat
me really abusively. That person was a friend who I admired
and trusted, who when challenged on their behaviour expertly
turned some of my closest musical relationships against me in
a way I could not have anticipated. A lot of the record is about
the alienation that results from not being heard or believed,
the sense of being the one who is then branded as ‘difficult’.
But it’s also about knowing something to be true regardless,
trying to make my peace with being being cast out, and having
to walk away from projects and people I really cared about. My
antidote in this case was to create a project that secured what
had been made insecure for me –Hermitess is my creation, I’m
unequivocally its author, its collaborators are there because
they believe in and support what I am trying to do; that is a gift
I never take for granted.
There’s a very strong emphasis on vocals. Your voice really
seems to be in sync with this style of music; the range, tonal
and ethereal qualities certainly stand out. And then there’s
the wonderful Witch Choir backing you up. What was the
inspiration or idea behind taking on this traditional yet revisionist
approach to a vocal style that is largely choral based?
JC: As for the composition. I wrote all of these melodies in
tandem with their harmonies, I think sometimes I just hear
melodies that way, already entwined in harmonies. That sense
of a chorus of voices fit with an image I had of these songs
being structured like incantations or spells. Womens voices
singing together are integral to this record, they are meant to
surround you.
I have to thank Audities Studio and John Hornak for the way
the voices sound on this recording, there is something to be said
for really good microphones so there is technical element there
in capturing the delicacy and nuances of the vocals as well.
There’s the music, and there’s the visuals. Describe the art
show involved when Hemitess perform and the story you’re
channeling with a visual presentation.
JC: Sometimes the images I’m making lead me to the songs and
sometimes the songs lead me to the images. I don’t experience
them as separate, I guess in a way each functions as a form on
notation for the other. The cover of the album is a good example
of this... During a writing break I went outside, set up the
camera on a tripod, set the self timer and walked out into the
snow until I heard the click of the shutter go off behind me.
Hermitess will be performing on the opening night of the GIRAF Animation
Festival before the screening of THE GIRL WITHOUT HANDS.
Thursday, Nov. 23 @ 7pm.
Speaking to black mulsim identity in a moment of cultural anomie.
COLD SPECKS
healings and ceilings
photo: Norman Wong
by Liam Prost
Somalia was one of the seven seemingly arbitrarily chosen nations
pointed out in the Dorito President’s so-called ‘Muslim Ban’ executive
order, signed within days of his presidency. Beyond the pure political
idiocy of the move and the profound racism underlying it, the pure malevolence
struck the heart of communities of colour in America and beyond.
As a Somali-Canadian artist, Ladan Hussein, Al Spyx, or Cold Specks as she is
known on stage and record, recounts and re-enacts the oscillation and separation
innate in a cultural moment defined by alienation and anomie.
On Arts & Crafts records, Cold Specks has released her third cavernous
musical exorcism in Fools Paradise. Like her two previous releases, it centres
around Hussein’s vocal brilliance with warm instrumentals, leaning on slinky
keys and synths with rolling drums and beats. It’s decidedly less aggressive and
more melancholy than Neuroplasticity (2014), with a graceful and poised air.
Trip-hop and R&B influences dominate a record full of strongly-felt longing and
separation.
“Thematically and lyrically, some songs deal with my identity as a black
Muslim woman in a crumbling world,” explains Hussein. “However, there are
also broken love songs.”
Much of the power in her lyrics comes from the bridging of ideas. “Ancient
Habits” speaks to the commonality of emotional experience through time and
culture, as well as how these things are framed differently through culture. “All
you believe never was what it seems,” she sings over an oscillating synth.
With the completion of the record and the catharsis therein, Hussein also
speaks to a sense of healing. “I needed to detach and disconnect and nurture
my soul in a time where I felt as though everything was falling apart. It certainly
was a healing process.”
Though universally praised, Hussein has never been one to dwell on her
reviews, “I don’t care about responses. It’s not something I ever analyze. I just
make the best music I can possibly make.”
While touring to promote Fools Paradise, she refers to the process as both
“wonderful and long,” but adds, “It’s been a delight to see endless cities and
perform these new songs.”
Cold Specks performs Wednesday, Nov. 22 at Commonwealth Bar and Stage
(Calgary), Thursday, Nov. 23 at the Needle Vinyl Tavern (Edmonton), Friday,
Nov. 24 at The Exchange (Regina), and Saturday, Nov. 25 at The Good Will
(Winnipeg).
BEATROUTE • NOVEMBER 2017 | 43