Toronto-based art rockers Weaves are back with the second single from their upcoming second album, Wide Open.
The band debuted the song last night during their performance at the Polaris Music Prize, an annual $50,000 award given to Canadian musicians based on the artistic merit of their work. They were one of ten artists short-listed for the prize along with A Tribe Called Red, Tanya Tagaq and winner, Lido Pimienta.
“Scream” begins with a wandering guitar part, set to a swaying bass line and a spare, hiccuping drum beat. The meandering path set by the band gives vocalist Jasmyn Burke plenty of room to play in, with her words and delivery giving the song its sense of shape and form. Inuk vocalist Tanya Tagaq arrives with the chorus, peppering the song with her own percussive throat singing.
Describing the song in an email, Burke explained that “I don’t think of “Scream” as a song. It’s almost like a sculpture within the album, sticking out poking people like a 3D installation.”
She says that the song focuses on the importance of representation in music, after hearing young girls and women of color tell her on tour that they don’t often see someone who looks like them fronting a rock band. “I think everyone is just having a hard time processing what’s happening on this planet right now,” she says. “I started thinking about how some people might hate or want to harm me because of my physical appearance and that just made me want to write something about loving yourself. ”
The video looks like a Gap ad gone wrong, with Burke decked out in a white undershirt and jeans in front of a plain white backdrop. Things go off the rails when Tagaq steps on set, adding some much needed color to the sonics and visuals. Burke and Tagaq’s combined forces sends the camera into a craze, exposing the limits of the backdrop by pushing the periphery into frame. Watch the clip above.
Wide Open is due out on Buzz Records/Kanine & Memphis Industries on 10/06.
