Any writer who includes the words “defies definition” is usually using a trite, cliched way to open their piece – review, bio, feature and so on. I’m using these without hesitation to describe the music made by the duo of Inuksuk Mackay and Tiffany Ayalik. The sisters took on a personal project to reclaim katajjaq (Inuit throat-singing), a tradition and music nearly eradicated by colonial acts and laws. Across a career that spans 6 albums, they have dramatically reframed this cultural expression that challenges and haunts the listener. Incorporating beats and synths, drawing on inspiration from their land and personal experience, PIQSIQ immediately invites you into an ethereal, textured atmosphere that increasingly envelopes the listener. Sometimes dense and heavy, at other times hauntingly sparse and skittering, their music is bound together with a sense of mystery and exploration while firmly rooted in history. Live performances are largely improvised, informed by the space and place they occupy, only adding to the sense of adventure and surprise they bring to audiences. Their creation of singular, immersive experiences, both live and recorded does, in fact, defy definition.

- Derek McEwen