Cryptozoologists are a three-piece rock band from Whitehorse. They make clever, off-kilter, quietly explosive songs filled with frenetic and provoking words. Writer-singer-guitarist Zach McCann-Armitage sings over the rollicking harmonic grind created by Christine Shaw on drums, Patrick Hamilton on bass and McCann-Armitage on electric guitar. They are known for their disarmingly direct performances, unconventional vocal delivery and dense poetic lyricism.
The band has released a new video for their song “Fascism”, a literate look at hate in politics. In the lyrics, McCann-Armitage references the essay A Time for Refusal by Teju Cole, warning that bewilderment can lead to complacency in a time marked by rising populism, and politics of fear. McCann-Armitage and Cole each make use of the allegory found in Albrecht Dürer’s “The Rhinoceros” where a group of people in a town continue to dismiss encounters with rhinos charging through the streets until they eventually begin to turn into rhinos themselves. When asked about the origins of the song, McCann-Armitage explained that it is sung by a naive narrator who is just realizing the urgency for and difficulty of real resistance: being clear and uncompromising against the politics of hate.
The video for “Fascism” was made as part of a new series shot in the basement of the CBC in Whitehorse, featuring nine local artists. The series, titled Beneath the Broadcast, works as both a feature-length film, as well as nine separate, stand-alone videos.
