Lingua Ignota @ Trinity-St. Paul's Church - Toronto, ON
Lingua Ignota (AKA Kristin Hayter) performed in Toronto on December 19th, 2022. The venue was Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church, a first for me personally.
I came to this show mostly unfamiliar with Lingua Ignota’s discography. During my road trip from Toronto to Vancouver Island last year, I took time to listen to her newest record, “Sinner Get Ready.” Unfortunately, my dad didn’t like her singing much so I had to turn it off and her music slipped through the cracks since.
Fast forward to 2022, I saw she was touring through North America and took the plunge.
Lingua’s first set was a series of traditional hymns. She was perched on the top left balcony of the church, under which I sat so I couldn’t see her much. After the first song, she quickly took to the grand piano and performed the rest of the hymns with a powerful vocal performance.
A short intermission and then she took to the stage for her main set. What followed what a magnetic performance; a practice of physical restraint in her limited movements, but an emotionally open wound being opened and simultaneously healed. There were moments of rage, hurt, and pure violence in her voice at times. At one point she walked into the crowd, right into the middle of the church and screamed her heart out. You simply couldn’t look away.
A purely unique performance experience I will never forget.
