Echoes Of…

New music comes, sometimes, from places you don’t expect. And, let’s be honest, who expects it from distant Iqaluit, the capital city of the territory of Nunavut — a city that’s far closer to the Arctic Circle than it is to Toronto, Ottawa or Montreal.

Echoes Of… is a collective of musicians and producers who live in Iqaluit. Echoes Of… is an important new album. Echoes Of… is just that: echoes of a place, of isolation, of soundscapes, of the collaborations of artists, and of half a dozen genres of music. 

Yes, there’s ambient music here. Moments of what they used to call “new age” music. Tastes of driving rock and roll and wispy folk. You can hear traces of a language spoken by fewer than 20,000 people in the entire world. You can dance to some of it, dream to most of it. And sink into the sounds of a colder winter than most Canadians will ever experience, as well as the warmth of close-knit communities closer to the North Pole than you are.

The genesis of Echoes Of… came in COVID times. In Edmonton, musician, singer and songwriter Andrew Morrison was with his mother as she transitioned from this world to the next. “It was a time to mourn her death and yet celebrate her life,” he recalls. “And the only way I knew how to do that was to create music.” With his children, as they sat with their grandmother, Andrew sang a final song for her — and “Anaanaga” eventually became the first track (and the first single release) from the debut album from Echoes Of…

The music scene in Iqaluit is — to quote a visitor — small but mighty. Musicians there all know each other, participate in each others’ bands, produce each others’ music, share each others’ audiences. Collaboration is the watchword, and this was the way Echoes Of… came together — both as a band and as a recording project. With Morrison as the lead vocalist on most tracks, musicians and fellow producers Terry Uyarak, James Ungalaq, Ivaana, Naja O and Jace Lasek joined forces to give the project heart and soul and a variety of sounds and texture. They all brought different experiences to the project — Ungalaq works with Northern Haze, a pioneering rock band and Lasek founded Besnard Lakes, a well known Montreal-based indie group. Uyarak is a former circus performer and an established singer songwriter; Ivaana is also an award-winning songwriter.

And musically Echoes Of… does cover a lot of ground. Most of the vocals are sung in Inuktitut, but you can hear traces of soft folk, rock, rhythms and “new age” ambience in the layered sounds of voices, instruments and percussion. It’s atmospheric, sometimes dreamy and almost hypnotic. And, yes, you can see yourself moving to some of this music in a dark, pulsing dance club.  Most people will never find themselves in the high Arctic. There’s no way you can drive there. Flights from Ottawa, Montreal and Edmonton are ridiculously expensive. And Iqaluit, with a population of a little over 9,000 people, is 2300 kilometers from Toronto, now the fourth largest city in  North America. And the traditions of the North — including seal hunting, throat singing, dog sledding and more — are vastly different from life in mostly urban big city Canada.

But Echoes Of… makes it possible, now, to understand — to feel — a vibrant, lively, strong and resilient culture. And isn’t that what the best music is created to do: take you away to feel, think, dance, and carry you to different places…