Inuit throat-singing duo PIQSIQ release their new album. Aptly titled Legends, this new work immerses listeners in the world of traditional Inuit storytelling.

After completing their first European tour in February, the PIQSIQ duo return with a new album. Inspired by Inuit tales and legends, their latest opus offers a thrilling sonic journey, where ancestral throat singing meets immersive electro textures.

PIQSIQ have made a name for themselves with their distinctive interpretation of katajjaq, traditional Inuit throat singing. Formed by sisters Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik and Kayley Inuksuk Mackay, PIQSIQ (pronounced “pilksilk”) mixes traditional Inuit throat singing with looped sounds and rhythms. The use of a loop machine allows them to create complex, modern pieces while integrating the cultural elements of katajjaq and reaffirming a traditional heritage.

Known for their stage improvisation, which makes every song and live performance unique, this Nunavut-born duo began their career with a debut album of Christmas carol covers. Released in 2019, Quviasugvik: In Search of Harmony is a real nugget where the famous “Carol of the Bells” or “Ave Maria” are reinterpreted in throat singing and synthetic sound versions. A way of reappropriating the tradition of Christmas and its complex colonial heritage with grace and harmony.

But back to Legends. Recorded in Vancouver and produced by Alex Penney, the album features ten tracks that plunge listeners into the Inuit imagination. A veritable kaleidoscope in which past and present converse with intensity. The album explores the founding tales, mythological figures and natural forces that shape the collective Inuit narrative. Each track acts as a modern incantation, a vibrant tribute to these millennia-old stories carried by the spellbinding voices of the two artists.

The album opens with a mysterious, hypnotic atmosphere, where throaty vocal harmonies mingle with deep, dark electronic layers. The contrast between the organic and the digital creates a luminous, sometimes unsettling tension that runs through all of Legends.

Surprisingly, the album also reveals itself as a visual experience. Listening to it, mental images impose themselves as much as sensations. We visualize the ice floe, we feel the elements, we hear sounds that could well be the voices of these fantastic creatures we end up forming an image of. A visual side that echoes the duo’s approach. “We created visual slideshows for each legend and sourced historic and contemporary Inuit artworks that depicted these beings”, says Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik in a press release published by the duo on their official website. “While recording, we projected these images in the studio, and then sang to what we saw and felt. It was deeply immersive and visual; we let the visuals guide our vocal responses.”

The first track, “Itiqgin: Enter”, offers a striking introduction, blending elements of throat singing with sounds that evoke the wind and merge with the breath of the voices. A transition that sets the scene and ushers the listener into a mysterious, bewitching world, before moving on to “Amautalik: Giantess”, the ogress of Inuit mythology who devours children. This is followed by seven other tracks, all linked to a fairytale character.

In the course of the electronic waves and the high and low intonations of the singers, we come across the Ijiraq, the “shape-shifters” who can take on the appearance of any animal, but whose red eyes betray their identity. Or the Inuarulliit, small creatures with a human appearance who take pleasure in stealing Inuit belongings. An ulu has disappeared? It’s probably the work of the Inuarulliit.

Then there’s Mahaha, a demon who tickles his victims to death, and the qallupillit, human-shaped creatures who slap ice and make children disappear into the sea.

Not forgetting, of course, the creatures that live under the sea ice in the icy waters of the Arctic. Like Nanurluk, the giant polar bear that lives under the sea ice and whose fur is covered in ice. Its monstrous size, immense strength and insatiable appetite make it a fearsome predator, as feared as it is respected. These depths are also home to tutaliit, mermaids, and Nuliajuk, the sea goddess also known as Sedna.

After this epic journey into the traditional Inuit imagination, the album ends with an outro, the sublime “Utiqgin: Return”, which returns the listener to their daily life.

“We wanted to honour our traditional stories—narratives that are not just entertainment, but fundamental to Inuit identity,” says Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik. “These legends have long been how we pass on critical teachings: How to stay safe on the land, how to live in the right relationship with each other, with the animals, and with the spirit world. These are stories of survival, respect, and deep connection to place.”

Indeed, the creatures of Inuit legends have little to envy the most frightening monsters of our fairy tales. The harsh conditions of life in the Arctic have forged creatures that have played a vital role in Inuit beliefs and the construction of life-saving taboos. Often malevolent, sometimes protective, these creatures have accompanied the Inuit, generation after generation, forging a mythology handed down through oral tradition.

With Legends, PIQSIQ also marks a turning point in its musical evolution. The use of qilaut, the traditional Inuit drum, and other forms of percussion are combined with the development of narrative skills to bring these characters and their teachings to life.

“This album feels like the purest synthesis of who we are as artists, because it brings us full circle in drawing on the stories that shaped us as children and reimagining them through the lens of our lives today. By reconnecting with that sense of wonder, play, and cultural memory, we were able to create something deeply honest and rooted in who we are.”

In a musical world sometimes saturated by predictable codes, PIQSIQ stands out as a breath of fresh air, a bridge between ancestral traditions and electronic modernity. An invitation to an unprecedented journey into a world of legends, guided by the voices of two magicians of sound.

Find out more on the official PIQSIQ website: https://piqsiq.bandcamp.com/album/legends