Lingua Ignota | Artist

Kristin Hayter aka Lingua Ignota aka Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter, is an American classically trained vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, born 1986 in Del Mar, California. As a youngster, a teacher noticed Hayter's natural vibrato voice when she was eight years old, which lead to her becoming a church cantor, singing every week at her local church and beginning classical voice training lessons. Despite a religious upbringing, she considered herself to be an atheist as a teenager, however Hayter later became interested in Roman Catholic iconography, which was later reflected iconaclastically in her music. Her undergraduate thesis, deconstructed J.S. Bach's The Well Tempered Clavier and centered its poetry component around anorexia a disorder Hayter herself endured for over a decade. In high school, Hayter played in various metal garage bands with her friends. She began releasing music in 2017 under the moniker 'Lingua Ignota', literally translating to 'unknown language' derived from the sacred constructed language created by German Christian mystic Hildegard von Bingen. She chose this name because of her interest in 'glossolalia' or ecstatic language ostensibly from God speaking through a body. As a recording artist, Hayter has to-date released four extraordinary studio albums; All Bitches Die (2017), Caligula (2019), The Caligula Demos (2020) and Sinner Get Ready (2021). Much of Hayter's music focuses on the expression of trauma, originally from personal and secondhand experiences of misogyny, sexism and domestic abuse against women. Her music has been described as "harshly-shrieked female operatic vocals with droning passages of seemingly-horror-film-influenced synthesizers. There are beautiful passages of piano that seem ripped from hymns. With samples of choral music alongside samples of a sermon and a murder testimony." Hayter herself describes her live performances as an "exorcism". In 2023 Hayter retired the Lingua Ignota project, marking the end with final performances and the release of the live album The End: Live at Islington Assembly Hall. The same year she released an excellent new LP entitled SAVED! under the project name Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter.

Artist Website: linguaignota.bandcamp.com

Featured Albums: Lingua Ignota

Related Artists: Kristin Hayter, Sightless Pit, Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter

Collections: Movers Shakers