SKYE WALLACE

With a voice like a soaring instrument, unflinching lyricism, and a swaggering live show shaped by years on the road, Skye Wallace is a force on a mission to celebrate life and welcome everyone in on the immersive experience. 

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The Act of Living, Wallace’s head-turning record came out on Tiny Kingdom Nov 1st (not coincidentally a day honouring spirits and endings in many cultures). It is all at once energizing, grinding, brittle, and electric; a sonic journey examining death and the ways it pushes life ever forward. The album nods to elements of Skye’s dark-folk past, mixed with the pure, unbridled enthusiasm of their live performances. In a co-producer role with counterpart Hawksley Workman, Skye sees her own vision come to life clearer than ever, inviting the listener through portals of near-death experiences, dream worlds and loss, while brandishing themes like the death of fear, death of reality, resilience and rebirth. Featuring songs that sound familiar yet refreshingly new, The Act of Living pushes the boundaries of expectation. 

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If you’ve had the opportunity to see Skye and their band perform live in the past several years, you’ve likely noticed hints of heavy, grungy jams – these influences get to be fully realized in The Act of Living, perhaps no more so than in the title track, where Wallace utilizes every end of her impressive vocal range, from low grumbles to banshee wails, claiming the tag line “Life is a death cult.”  In true Skye Wallace fashion however, you still find tender acoustic moments with heartbreaking lyrics and her signature emotive vocals, perhaps no more effectively than in “You Don’t Still Have A Hold On Me”, a song eulogizing Wallace’s own anxiety, or in “Round Round Round” as she recounts a car accident in which she and her mother barely escaped death. But just when you think you’ve got the album figured out, a curveball like “Before the Afterlife”, with its twinkling synths and ethereal harmonies, shows up and whisks you away like a nostalgic memory of a moment in life where everything was peaceful. 

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The theme of death is deftly woven throughout the album’s 11 tracks, but it doesn’t leave listeners feeling morose – it’s an uplifting, cathartic ride through grief, ending in finding a peace within it, letting go of fear and coming out the other side, even if you’re still picking up the pieces.