La Force

La Force is Ariel Engle, a singer and guitarist from Montreal. She is an in-demand vocalist who is part of the Patrick Watson project as well as a long time member of Broken Social Scene and bandmate of Efrim Menuck (Godspeed you Black Emperor) in their duo project All Hands Make Light. Engle's facility with improvisation often takes the form of using traditional structures as a leaping off point; the choruses anchor her to the pop song form, the verses allow her room to roam. This means that at times La Force's music can evoke the grit New York icons Suicide, to spiralling vocal melismas over intricate finger picking reminiscent of English folk. Taking up the theme of emotional haunting, a La Force show is cathartic, uneasy listening, and yet ultimately life affirming in its equal acknowledgements of love and loss.