Founded in 2011 by Toronto-born poet and composer Benjamin Hackman, The Holy Gasp is a multi-genre music, performance and cinema collective that strives to entertain fans of theatrical, darkly comical, literary music. With instrumentation and personnel changing regularly to meet the needs and vision of each new project, the collective has taken on many forms throughout the years, and continues to morph and evolve.
Their debut record, The Last Generation of Love (2015), was regarded as “a future cult-classic debut” by The Toronto Star, as “undoubtedly one of the best Canadian albums of the year” by Grayowl Point, and as “one of the best albums to come out of Toronto in 2015” by Toronto Music Reviews.
Their 2018 followup, The Love Songs of Oedipus Rex, was a 27-person concept album about a troubled marriage further burdened by the death of the husband’s father. The album reached #1 on the Earshot Campus Radio Charts in Windsor and Detroit, and was the subject of a CBC Short Doc by director Luke Sargent. The album was described by Sacred Exile as “an immediately captivating mix of genres, anchored by a powerful vocal performance… ultimately unlike anything you have heard before,” and to quote Dominionated: “From the most painful and precarious of predicaments, The Love Songs of Oedipus Rex rises as a creative masterpiece.”
In 2020, The Holy Gasp premiered Grief, a sunset-to-sunrise choral performance intended to fabricate a communal mourning ritual. For 9.5 straight hours, an ensemble of 15 members of The Holy Gasp performed the same ceaseless melody in a circle around Benjamin Hackman who was charged with the task of reading aloud the names of the dead – names entered prior to the performance by members of the public. In the end, 17,005 names were recited. Mark Wigmore of Classical FM called the piece “wonderful,” and Graham Isador of the CBC hailed it as a “fearless presentation,” going on to add that “the band should be applauded for their ambitiousness.” Now Toronto had this to say: “Hackman… normalize[s] discussion surrounding the experience of death and dying through his art… [and has a] profound understanding of the powerful emotions associated with the grieving process.”
In 2022, The Holy Gasp began its journey into animated musicals with the first of several collaborations with Barcelona-based animation studio, Alla Kinda. Their first film together, The Algonquin Bridge, premiered at the Cannes Short Film Festival where it won the People’s Choice Award. That same year, the film won Best Animation at the London International Short Film Festival. Stash Media called it “a hit” while Plethora Network described it as “an outstanding work in the world of animation.” Their next film, Devil Oh Devil, won the Award for Best Animation at the Hudson Animation & Short Film Festival, and was a Semi-Finalist at both Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival as well as the Holly Shorts Film Festival in Hollywood.
In 2023, The Holy Gasp released their long-awaited third studio album, …And the Lord Hath Taken Away, a 65-minute song cycle written for an orchestra of 45. The album has been the subject of a great deal of enthusiastic praise, being called “a masterpiece” by both Plethora Network and Absent Sounds on CJAM FM, and as “a towering example of originality and creative genius” by Viberate. Dominionated has described it as “a larger-than-life body of work,” going on to say, “it’s a wonder to see Hackman’s poetic brilliance take the stage once more,” while Avanzada had this to say: “Singular and timeless… […And the Lord Hath Take Away] captivates from the first moment… taking us into a world of drama and depth, transporting us to a place full of emotion…. The Holy Gasp has created a work that will surely last and continue to move those who listen….”
The Holy Gasp’s most recent film, Out of the Hands of the Wicked, is a live action puppet musical. Grimoire of Horror predicted that “it is the creativity and the memorability of Hackman’s performance as Pa that are going to win this short some awards.” Right they were! Following a successful year on the festival circuit, the film took home Best Music Video at the Regina International, Best Film Music at the Paris Film Art Festival, The Audience Choice Award at Tiny Mountains Film Festival (Australia), and a nomination for Best Film Score at Blood in the Snow.
The Holy Gasp are presently wrapping up final touches on a new animation while busy at work composing an original opera.
