North Star Calling

When listening to Leela Gilday's latest album, North Star Calling, one is instantly transported to a vast land of powerful rivers, magnetic minerality and abundant stars reflected upon infinite lakes. A Dené singer-songwriter from the Northwest Territories (a Canadian territory roughly the size of Peru), her people have been walking the land for thousands of years. Songs like ‘K’eintah Natse Ju' and ‘Yake Gotine’ pay homage to her ancestors and, in doing so, Gilday creates a sort of Boreal blues. Perched on top of traditional melodic drum patterns, sinuous guitars and deep, introspective bass, Gilday's voice is the big star here. Powerful and fierce, yet nurturing and evocative, she sings effortlessly throughout this album (her fifth) with soulful panache. Inuk avant-garde artist Tanya Tagaq also appears as a guest on the opening track to add a somewhat darker tone to the beginning of the album. A natural storyteller, Gilday is a force of nature and North Star Calling her guiding light.