LINGUAIGNOTA
Giving voice to pain and breaking down the divide between artist and audience, Kristin Hayter found a devoted following
Ayear ago, barely anyone had heard of Kristin Hayter and her solo project, Lingua Ignota. Now she’s playing to packed rooms and being invited to collaborate with other musicians. “I feel so honoured that people have taken the time to get to know this difficult and unwieldy record,” she says of the huge response to second album Caligula. “I truly was not expecting it. Even though I kind of hate everything I make, I knew I had done something different with Caligula, but I didn’t think that anyone else would also hear that.”
After the release of her first album, 2017’s All Bitches Die, things developed quickly for Kristin. She toured Europe alongside Amenra, Author & Punisher and Hide, played two memorable sets at Roadburn festival, and provided both the inspiration and soundtrack for an Ann Demeulemeester fashion collection presented in Paris.
Caligula was released in July, followed by a headline tour in the US and Europe.
“2019 has been so wild,” the Californian recalls, although she speaks of an urge to not get carried away. “I think when you experience this kind of exponential
“IT’S IMPORTANT TO STAY AUTHENTIC”
growth and hype, it’s important to remember that all this is ephemeral, and to try to stay oriented towards longterm goals of who I want to be as an artist and a person, to stay authentic.”
With music as challenging as Caligula, which explores Kristin’s experiences of domestic abuse, live performances are bound to become intense. Often performing amid the audience, Kristin Hayter aimed to change the relationship between audience and artist, making everyone a part of the experience. “I’ve had a lot of conversations about how being able to see one another, and how we are all being affected, is very different and special for people,” she says.
While many fans told the musician that her work has helped them with their experiences of suffering, she observed others having difficulties pinning down their emotions: “I think that the moniker Lingua Ignota [‘Unknown Language’] has proven to be a fairly accurate description of how people digest my music,” she says. “Very often people do not have words or seem frustrated with themselves that they can’t describe what the music does to them.”
Her emotionally taxing performances and the newfound attention sometimes take a toll on Kristin’s social relations, from falling behind on answering mails to being too overwhelmed to talk to fans after shows. “I want to talk to people and I appreciate them, but I am very shy and get socially overwhelmed so easily. I don’t think I’ll ever feel like I deserve the attention,” she says.
Nevertheless, the singer has big plans for 2020. Besides some still-secret collabs, we can expect special performances at Roadburn, where she will act as artist in residence. “I am trying to do things a little differently, to create a different model for touring, releasing music etc,” Kristin reveals. “I don’t think my music and the way I perform it is very similar to anyone else, so it doesn’t make sense that I would follow the same cycle everyone else does. Make your own path, I guess.”