nêhiyawak SHARES NEW MUSIC VIDEO FOR “secret”

DIRECTOR CASEY KOYCZAN OFFERS A VIBRANT AND DEFIANT IMAGE OF INDIGENOUS PRACTICES AND TRADITIONS

WATCH / SHARE “secret” HERE

nêhiyawak’s 2020 POLARIS SHORTLIST ALBUM  nipiy IS OUT NOW ON ARTS & CRAFTS 
LISTEN HERE

“A beacon of hope for communities to learn from and grow with each other. Astounding and worth every minute of its running time.” - Exclaim!

“Exceeds its hype by defying convention and building up and out from a foundation of family and Elder teachings.” - CBC Music 

“A record for and about community, and it's a thing of heavy, expansive beauty.” - The Line Of Best Fit

nêhiyawak – the amiskwaciy (Edmonton) trio of Kris Harper, Marek Tyler, and Matthew Cardinal – today releases an immersive visual accompaniment to the song “secret” from their seminal 2020 debut album nipiy. Directed by Dene multidisciplinary artist Casey Koyczan, the music video is an enthralling exploration of Indigenous customs through the prismatic lens of First Nations youth and performers, as they drum and dance through blasts of full spectrum colour and enveloping texture. The song’s propulsive rhythm, driven by Tyler’s carved cedar log drums, shifts and swells into shuffling krautrock, amid Cardinal’s swirling atmospherics, and Harper’s lyrics that seem to grip onto “temporary harmony.”

“A lot has happened over the last two years,” says the Yellowknife director Koyczan. “It has been a time of inner reflection, safety, adaptation, and overcoming obstacles. ‘secret’ was a chance to provide, mainly youth, with an opportunity to dance in their traditional regalia and drum in a public setting to celebrate their culture at a time when all large gatherings were unable to take place due to pandemic restrictions. Blooming colour and movement break through the dark undertones and mysticism to symbolize the resilience and strength of our Indigenous practices and traditions defiant of political, economic, and societal oppression.”

WATCH / SHARE “secret” HERE

The MVP supported video for “secret” arrives over two years since the release of nêhiyawak’s still widely celebrated debut album, nipiy, which translates to ‘water’ from the nêhiyaw language. The music of the band – whose name refers directly to their nêhiyaw ancestry – is a spirited expression of Indigeneity, dedicated to the life-sustaining force of water. The flow and pace of the album, symbolic of the flow and pace of river water, begins and ends with pieces dedicated to kisiskâciwanisîpiy (North Saskatchewan River), which flows through the center of amiskwaciy. In the band's words, “There are many important ideas and teachings that we were raised with in our lives, but few more important than water. It’s a modern conversation with complex meanings and understandings.”

Produced by Colin Stewart (The New Pornographers, Black Mountain, Destroyer), nêhiyawak’s sound combines terse post-rock soundscapes with surreal pop and sheer ambient aspects. Anchored by the hollowed pounding of Tyler’s traditional carved cedar log drums and Cardinal’s electronic inflections, nipiy combines the teachings of nêhiyawak’s Elders with the band’s own interests in music, instrumentation and lyrics. nipiy tells their story of collective experience – a band empowered by history and progress, compelled to add to the great body of work. As Harper says, “Our goal is not to build up a group of individuals, but rather keep kicking at the door built in front of many.”

BUY / STREAM nipiy HERE

Strongly inspired by the Idle No More movement, says Harper, “nipiy is for those who don’t seem to fit in for myriads of reasons. To inspire others to use their voice and to send messages to future generations.” 

Best described in the band’s own words, drummer Marek Tyler offers this context on nêhiyawak:

“Why is nêhiyawak more than a band? Because our families, our nêhiyaw communities, and our ways of knowing and being inform our work. For me, our album nipiy represents an ongoing process of connecting, learning and growing with each other.”

WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR “PAGE” HERE

WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR “TOMASSO” HERE

WATCH CBC MUSIC FULL CONCERT HERE

nipiy album art // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

NOTES
nêhiyawak ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐊᐧᐠ
Pronunciation: NEH-hee-oh-wuk
Meanings: Cree People, People of the Plains, Plains People, Exact People, Free People
Note: There are no letters capitalized in Cree language. Please write name in all lower case.

nêhiyawak ONLINE
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM

nêhiyawak SHARES VIDEO FOR “tommaso”

THE DIRECTORIAL DEBUT OF MASKWACIS-BASED ARTIST  MARIA BUFFALO

DEBUT ALBUM nipiy OUT NOW

WATCH AND SHARE “tommaso” (DIRECTED BY MARIA BUFFALO)

BUY / STREAM nipiy HERE

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES IN B.C. THIS DECEMBER

“It is a testament to the properties of the element it strives to represent, and a beacon of hope for communities to learn from and grow with each other. Astounding and worth every minute of its running time.” - Exclaim!

“the sound of prairies sighing, of mountains uprising, of rivers racing and skies splitting open, all devoted to investigating their land, history, and heritage” - Beatroute

“a psychedelic-rock record that exceeds its hype by defying convention and building up and out from a foundation of family and Elder teachings, honouring the connections and relationships between everything from the Sixties Scoop to the flow and pace of the kisiskâciwanisîpiy (North Saskatchewan River).” - CBC Music
“This trio from amiskwaciy in Treaty 6 is almost certain to become the next big thing in the exploding First Nations music scene in Canada.” - Vancouver Sun

“A record for and about community, and it's a thing of heavy, expansive beauty.” - The Line Of Best Fit

“... resonates with enlightenment, pulls the past into the present and offers listeners a new awakening, a new perspective” - Dominionated

Photo Credit : Levi Manchak // DOWNLOAD HI-RES

This week sees the highly-anticipated release of nêhiyawak’s stunning debut album, nipiy, marked with today’s arrival of the music video for “tommaso” by Maskwacis, Alberta-based filmmaker Maria Buffalo. The song – which combines Marek Tyler’s momentous krautrock rhythm and the terrestrial beat of Indigenous percussion, Matthew Cardinal’s swirling electric melodies, and Kris Harper’s resounding vocals – is enhanced by Buffalo’s remarkably personal dedication to community. nipiy is out today on Arts & Crafts. 

Buffalo offers this insight on nêhiyawak’s song and her directorial debut:

“My vision for ‘tommaso’ has been in the making for years. ‘tommaso’ was the first track I listened to from nêhiyawak and I instantly fell in love and I felt at home. When I was approached to do this I was over the moon. During the early stages I was in an indigenous literature class and we were studying indigenous erotica. Its main praxis – and what I wanted my art specifically to explore – is how indigenous bodies are an extension of the land. Growing up on the reservation, that was something I understood from a young age. I grew up on the land. It created me. The track of tommaso was very much about love and devotion. So it made sense to take this chance to create this love letter to my home and my community, and to the band. It was vital for me to make sure this was actually shot on my reservation and to include talent from my community as well (with Hunter from Sucker Creek as the exception). We then decided on a location and suddenly it became something so much more personal to me. My Kokum Sadie generously allowed us to film in her home and she agreed to star in it as well. So it suddenly became a family affair. Which was wickedly sacred and beautiful. For my entire family and community to come together to bring to life this story. To structure the video a bit more while doing shortlists and soft blocking I decided to focus on four main people in the four main stages of life. Showing all these beautiful brown bodies and what they contain. This was the story of our land. This was a love story. With indigenous bodies and the land. And with each other.”

Songwriter Kris Harper says he wrote “tommaso” with the history of the European Renaissance in mind. “I felt like there is an incredible love story to be examined between Michaelangelo and Tommaso,” says Harper. “As well to point out to some of the realities of having the master’s work commissioned required the spoils of colonial exploits. For me the idea of having another indigenous artist (Maria Buffalo) visualize concepts knowing some of the back story of the lyrics in the music, but relating that to images of Maskwacis First Nation, the body, hands, and indigenous people; I could imagine an incredible juxtaposition. The story of the song deepens with additional perspectives working their own ideas into this piece.”

WATCH AND SHARE “tommaso” (DIRECTED BY MARIA BUFFALO)

nêhiyawak hails from amiskwaciy (Edmonton) on Treaty 6 territory. On the band’s debut album, nipiy, the trio of Indigenous artists – Kris Harper (vocals, guitars), Marek Tyler (drums), and Matthew Cardinal (synths, bass) – transcends a new intersection of traditional storytelling and modern sound. 

nêhiyawak – whose name refers directly to their nêhiyaw ancestry – is a spirited expression of Indigeneity. nipiy, which translates to water, is the title of nêhiyawak's first full length album. The flow and pace of the album, symbolic of the flow and pace of water, begins and ends with pieces dedicated to kisiskâciwanisîpiy (North Saskatchewan River), a river that flows through the center of amiskwaciy. In the band's words, “There are many important ideas and teachings that we were raised with in our lives, but few more important than water. It’s a modern conversation with complex meanings and understandings.”

WATCH “kisiskâciwanisîpiy pêyak” HERE 

Produced by Colin Stewart (The New Pornographers, Black Mountain, Destroyer), nêhiyawak’s sound combines terse post-rock soundscapes with surreal pop and sheer ambient aspects. Anchored by the hollowed pounding of Tyler’s traditional carved cedar log drums and Cardinal’s electronic inflections, nipiy combines the teachings of nêhiyawak’s Elders with the band’s own interests in music, instrumentation and lyrics. nipiy tells their story of collective experience – a band empowered by history and progress, compelled to add to the great body of work. As Harper says, “Our goal is not to build up a group of individuals, but rather keep kicking at the door built in front of many.”

Strongly inspired by the Idle No More movement, “nipiy is for those who don’t seem to fit in for myriads of reasons. To inspire others to use their voice and to send messages to future generations.” Best described in the band’s own words, drummer Marek Tyler offers this context on nêhiyawak:

“Why is nêhiyawak more than a band? Because our families, our nêhiyaw communities, and our ways of knowing and being inform our work. For me, our album nipiy represents an ongoing process of connecting, learning and growing with each other.”

BUY / STREAM nipiy HERE

TOUR DATES
Dec 5 - Vancouver, BC - Museum of Anthropology
Dec 6 - Victoria, BC - Lucky Bar

DOWNLOAD HI-RES

nêhiyawak - nipiy tracklist
1. kisiskâciwanisîpiy pêyak 
2. copper
3. page
4. somnambulist
5. secret 
6. perch
7. ôtênaw
8. starlight
9. tommaso
10. open window
11. disappear
12. kisiskâciwanisîpiy nîso

NOTES
nêhiyawak ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐊᐧᐠ
Pronunciation: NEH-hee-oh-wuk
Meanings: Cree People, People of the Plains, Plains People, Exact People, Free People
Note: There are no letters capitalized in Cree language. Please write name in all lower case.

nêhiyawak ONLINE
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM

nêhiyawak SHARES NEW SONG “disappear”

LISTEN AND SHARE “disappear” HERE

DEBUT ALBUM nipiy OUT OCT 24 ON ARTS & CRAFTS
PREORDER HERE

UPCOMING LAUNCH SHOWS IN ALBERTA AND B.C.

“a psychedelic-rock record that exceeds its hype by defying convention and building up and out from a foundation of family and Elder teachings, honouring the connections and relationships between everything from the Sixties Scoop to the flow and pace of the kisiskâciwanisîpiy (North Saskatchewan River).” - CBC Music

“This trio from Amiskwaciy in Treaty 6 is almost certain to become the next big thing in the exploding First Nations music scene in Canada.” - Vancouver Sun

“A record for and about community, and it's a thing of heavy, expansive beauty.” - The Line Of Best Fit

“... resonates with enlightenment, pulls the past into the present and offers listeners a new awakening, a new perspective” - Dominionated

Photo Credit : Levi Manchak // DOWNLOAD HI-RES

nêhiyawak hails from amiskwaciy (Edmonton) on Treaty 6 territory. On the band’s debut album, nipiy – out October 24 on Arts & Crafts – the trio of Indigenous artists – Kris Harper (vocals, guitars), Marek Tyler (drums), and Matthew Cardinal (synths, bass) – transcends a new intersection of traditional storytelling and modern sound. 

nêhiyawak today shares “disappear” – the second single and the penultimate track on the masterful twelve-song album. “disappear” is a devastatingly forlorn but beautiful reprieve that connects stories of Indigenous disappearances in Canada and Honduras. Written and arranged in 2013 shortly after Harper attended a lecture in Toronto on problems faced by Indigenous cultures, “disappear” references keynote speaker Bertha Oliva’s “stories about the impacts of the tourist industry on Honduras specifically and the tactics used to implement these geographical disruptions.” Harper recounts how the song came together:

“While just before going to record the first three nêhiyawak songs with [producer] Colin Stewart, Matthew Cardinal and I scheduled a bunch of one on one rehearsals where we were collaborating on writing arrangements. And within about three rehearsals we were very confident about the arrangement for the song, and I quickly began to write about stories I knew of Indigenous life in amiskwaciy.”

nêhiyawak fills “disappear” with both lush ambience and a sense of enormous void – the sparse wooden rhythm, wiry guitar phrases, and shimmering electronics at first barely hold up Harper’s words, which too falter with emotional weight. A major shift occurs in the song’s second half, as each element swells into cacophony and Harper’s voice strains the refrain:

put out a call, who vanned them out?
where did they go? does anybody know?
a new game in town, holes in the ground
water pulled around, families not found

LISTEN & SHARE “disappear” HERE

“disappear” Single Artwork // DOWNLOAD HI-RES

nêhiyawak – whose name refers directly to their nêhiyaw ancestry – is a spirited expression of Indigeneity. nipiy, which translates to water, is the title of nêhiyawak's first full length album. The flow and pace of the album, symbolic of the flow and pace of water, begins and ends with pieces dedicated to kisiskâciwanisîpiy (North Saskatchewan River), a river that flows through the center of amiskwaciy. In the band's words, “There are many important ideas and teachings that we were raised with in our lives, but few more important than water. It’s a modern conversation with complex meanings and understandings.”

WATCH “kisiskâciwanisîpiy pêyak” (Album Trailer) HERE 

Produced by Colin Stewart (The New Pornographers, Black Mountain, Destroyer), nêhiyawak’s sound combines terse post-rock soundscapes with surreal pop and sheer ambient aspects. Anchored by the hollowed pounding of Tyler’s traditional carved cedar log drums and Cardinal’s electronic inflections, nipiy combines the teachings of nêhiyawak’s Elders with the band’s own interests in music, instrumentation and lyrics. nipiy tells their story of collective experience – a band empowered by history and progress, compelled to add to the great body of work. As Harper says, “Our goal is not to build up a group of individuals, but rather keep kicking at the door built in front of many.”

Strongly inspired by the Idle No More movement, says Harper, “nipiy is for those who don’t seem to fit in for myriads of reasons. To inspire others to use their voice and to send messages to future generations.” In contrast to the first single, “ôtênaw” – the visceral, raucous apex of the album – “disappear” puts front and centre the spirituality and deep consideration held in the vast space between each note, each inflection, each word.

LISTEN & SHARE “ôtênaw” HERE

Best described in the band’s own words, drummer Marek Tyler offers this context on nêhiyawak:

“Why is nêhiyawak more than a band? Because our families, our nêhiyaw communities, and our ways of knowing and being inform our work. For me, our album nipiy represents an ongoing process of connecting, learning and growing with each other.”

PREORDER nipiy LP HERE

TOUR DATES
Oct 4 - Edmonton, AB - Aviary
Oct 5 - Calgary, AB - King Eddy
Dec 5 - Vancouver, BC - Museum of Anthropology
Dec 6 - Victoria, BC - Lucky Bar

DOWNLOAD HI-RES

nêhiyawak - nipiy tracklist
1. kisiskâciwanisîpiy pêyak 
2. copper
3. page
4. somnambulist
5. secret 
6. perch
7. ôtênaw
8. starlight
9. tommaso
10. open window
11. disappear
12. kisiskâciwanisîpiy nîso

NOTES
nêhiyawak ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐊᐧᐠ
Pronunciation: NEH-hee-oh-wuk
Meanings: Cree People, People of the Plains, Plains People, Exact People, Free People
Note: There are no letters capitalized in Cree language. Please write name in all lower case.

nêhiyawak ONLINE
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM