OMBIIGIZI SHARE VIDEO FOR “SHAME” FROM NEW LP

OMBIIGIZI’S NEW LP, SHAME, OUT NOW VIA ARTS & CRAFTS

WATCH / SHARE “SHAME” HERE

BUY / STREAM SHAME HERE

PURCHASE PHYSICAL SHAME LP HERE

Photo Credit: Natasha Roberts // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, OMBIIGIZI, the Anishinaabe-Canadian band led by Daniel Monkman (aka Zoon) and Adam Sturgeon (aka Status/Non-Status), are sharing the video for the titular track, “Shame,” of their recently released sophomore album, SHAME.

Monkman and Sturgeon, who first met in 2018, bonded over their shared Indigenous heritage, and how music has helped them pay homage to their ancestors and keep their culture alive. On their latest album, OMBIIGIZI dives in head first. "Shame is a thing we all share," the band says of the album's title and core theme. "While the last album [2022’s debut Sewn Back Together] focused a lot on the positive force of healing despite odds, SHAME let’s things slide - it shares the things we don’t always say, it calls to others to heal and reminds them it’s OK - to feel, to be angry or sad, and that the world we experience can set the drag on high. But always it calls you in and forward." 

The “Shame” video puts these feelings to the test, opening with complete silence and a black screen for nearly the first ten seconds, creating a tense moment of stillness. Then, viewers are drawn into clips of flowing water and a hypnotic chant singing “we have to stay true when we try to explain shame.” What unfolds is five minutes of what feels like a complete short film. The story follows an astronaut figure who appears to be unfamiliar with the world around him, lost and displaced, until he comes across a masked figure who comes from the sea and seems to connect with him. 

WATCH / SHARE “SHAME” HERE

On the idea behind the video Sturgeon explains, “Shame is a mask we all wear. It is something that can feel Alien, but often reveals itself in the simplicity of our day to day life. I don't believe there is any one face to shame. Much like our Indigenous identity. The masks used to create the vision of shame therefore are otherworldly but exploring familiar and mundane themes.” 

The mask featured in “Shame” was created by Billy Douthwright, “a late two-spirit Onkwehón:we artist and founding member [of the Sweet Labor Art Collective].” The collective, which centers its practice around multidisciplinary research and performance art, collaborated with OMBIGIIZI for the SHAME LP, allowing members of Sweet Labor Art to honor and continue to work with their ancestor, Billy, through the project. On the experience of including Billy's art in the video, the collective shared, “We put his vision into play, letting the mask continue to do the work of touching into shame and allowing it to emerge into something new.”

“To know where you come from is to know where you are going,” concludes Sturgeon. In “Shame,” OMBIGIIZI pays a moving tribute to what has come before them and celebrates how it has shaped who they are today.

WATCH / SHARE “STREET NAMES AND LAND CLAIMS” HERE
WATCH / SHARE “CONNECTING” HERE
LISTEN / SHARE “ZIIBI” HERE

MORE ABOUT OMBIIGIZI
The Anishinaabe revival is accelerating. Our artists are becoming more resurgent in all realms: telling the stories, singing the songs, and creating the imagery to further solidify our everlasting presence on this land. The soundtrack to this movement is diverse, profound, and beautiful. The Anishinaabe sonic revolution is richly layered and wide-reaching, inspiring and influencing all generations to gather, sing, and speak, as we’ve always done. And at the core of this renewal are artists like Ombiigizi.

Adam Sturgeon (aka Status / Non Status) and Daniel Monkman (aka Zoon) have come together in the spirit of making noise in a good way for our people. They have documented this moment in time while paying homage to the ancestors who kept our language and stories alive. There is embedded in it a deep respect and love for Anishinaabe sounds and voices. They proudly tell family and community stories, and they exquisitely conjure a hopeful future that will result from our current collective efforts to share our realities with each other and the world.

- Waubgeshig Rice

LISTEN / SHARE “CITY TRIALS” HERE
WATCH / SHARE “LAMINATE THE SKY” HERE

BUY / STREAM SHAME HERE
PURCHASE PHYSICAL SHAME LP HERE

LIVE PERFORMANCE DATES
Nov 22 - The Monarch Tavern - Toronto, ON

OMBIIGIZI ONLINE
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OMBIIGIZI TO RELEASE NEW LP TOMORROW, SHARE “STREET NAMES AND LAND CLAIMS” VIDEO TODAY

Photo Credit: Natasha Roberts // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Tomorrow, OMBIIGIZI, the Anishinaabe-Canadian band led by Daniel Monkman (aka Zoon) and Adam Sturgeon (aka Status/Non-Status), will release their sophomore album, SHAME.

OMBIIGIZI embarks on a starkly honest, yet richly uplifting journey on their new album. "Shame is a thing we all share," the band says of the album's title and core theme. "While the last album [2022’s debut Sewn Back Together] focused a lot on the positive force of healing despite odds, SHAME let’s things slide - it shares the things we don’t always say, it calls to others to heal and reminds them it’s OK - to feel, to be angry or sad, and that the world we experience can set the drag on high. But always it calls you in and forward." 

Ahead of the release of SHAME, they are highlighting the track "Street Names and Land Claims." 'We are the effect and our shame is hard to define,' OMBIIGIZI sings over the sounds of their towering guitars constructed on ancient syncopated rhythms, the band's quintessential blend of modern and traditional elements. Charged by its themes of Indigenous land rights and colonization, the poetry and distortion of Adam Sturgeon unites with the vast soundscapes of Daniel Monkman, as OMBIIGIZI ride the razor's edge of society's confrontation with Mother Nature.

“‘Street Names and Land Claims’ was another song where it was really fun to push ourselves into territories of interesting timing, rhythm, and adding a bit more grit to the table," remarks Sturgeon. "The lyrics are totally abstract and confused just like the spiritually broke language of English. And we really played on that theme a lot with juxtapositions and the silly things that people put in their pockets to inform themselves that they’re living in the right way, and that everything is a contradiction.

"We need to drive to the environmental protest. We have to spend eight million dollars on the echo-chic pants. Our lattes cost $12 and we’re not giving the change to the people sitting outside the coffee shop," he continues. "So ‘Street Names and Land Claims,’ even the song title is very time-appropriate as we tear down statues."

WATCH / SHARE “STREET NAMES AND LAND CLAIMS” HERE

PRE-SAVE / PRE-ORDER SHAME HERE
PURCHASE PHYSICAL SHAME LP HERE

Through SHAME’s irrepressible storytelling and captivating sonics, again recorded with Nyles Spencer with Kevin Drew at The Tragically Hip's Bathouse Studio in Kingston, Ontario – promising better tone, wider strident-to-bliss dynamics, more of what this collusion of creative souls does best – OMBIIGIZI (pronounced om-BEE-ga-ZAY, meaning this is noisy) conjure a future from the remnants of the stolen past.

“Ultimately, the main point of the songs is that within each of us is an ability to love oneself and to heal.”

WATCH / SHARE “CONNECTING” HERE
LISTEN / SHARE “ZIIBI” HERE

MORE ABOUT OMBIIGIZI
The Anishinaabe revival is accelerating. Our artists are becoming more resurgent in all realms: telling the stories, singing the songs, and creating the imagery to further solidify our everlasting presence on this land. The soundtrack to this movement is diverse, profound, and beautiful. The Anishinaabe sonic revolution is richly layered and wide-reaching, inspiring and influencing all generations to gather, sing, and speak, as we’ve always done. And at the core of this renewal are artists like Ombiigizi.

Adam Sturgeon (aka Status / Non Status) and Daniel Monkman (aka Zoon) have come together in the spirit of making noise in a good way for our people. They have documented this moment in time while paying homage to the ancestors who kept our language and stories alive. There is embedded in it a deep respect and love for Anishinaabe sounds and voices. They proudly tell family and community stories, and they exquisitely conjure a hopeful future that will result from our current collective efforts to share our realities with each other and the world. - Waubgeshig Rice

LISTEN / SHARE “CITY TRIALS” HERE
WATCH / SHARE “LAMINATE THE SKY” HERE

LIVE PERFORMANCE DATES
Nov 22 - The Monarch Tavern - Toronto, ON

DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
SHAME TRACKLIST
1. Laminate The Sky 
2. Street Names And Land Claims 
3. Connecting 
4. What Was Said 
5. Hands Are Up 
6. City Trials 
7. Photograph 
8. Ziibi 
9. Oil Spills 
10. Shame 

OMBIIGIZI ONLINE
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK 
TWITTER

OMBIIGIZI SHARE "CITY TRIALS" SINGLE

Photo Credit: Natasha Roberts // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, OMBIIGIZI, the Anishinaabe-Canadian band led by Daniel Monkman (aka Zoon) and Adam Sturgeon (aka Status/Non-Status), share "City Trials," the final single before the release of their sophomore album, SHAME.

“‘City Trials’ is a dedication and a repetitive reminder that you can change,” says OMBIIGIZI. 'You’re not what you have done/You're not what you’ve become,' they sing over a deliberate rhythm that builds to harmonic cacophony. Through the lens of its impact on the Indigenous community, the Anishinaabe duo confront the widespread issue of addiction, and the drug companies responsible for its wildfire spread. With layered guitars and the tension of its melodies in the balance – working again with producer Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene – OMBIIGIZI finds resolve in the struggle, and envisions a world where powerful corporate forces are held responsible for their damage to humanity. 

“We recorded ‘City Trials’ after seeing what the opioid epidemic did to the Indigenous community, looking back after tens of years. I fantasized about holding the pharmaceutical companies accountable and the city would put them on trial for their crimes against the planet,” says Monkman. 

LISTEN / SHARE “CITY TRIALS” HERE
BUY / STREAM “CITY TRIALS” HERE

Single Artwork // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Following the recent singles "Laminate The Sky," "Connecting," and "Ziibi," OMBIIGIZI is set to embark on the starkly honest yet richly uplifting new work entitled SHAME, out November 1 via Arts & Crafts. 

"Shame is a thing we all share," the band says of the album's title and core theme. "While the last album [2022’s debut Sewn Back Together] focused a lot on the positive force of healing despite odds, SHAME let’s things slide - it shares the things we don’t always say, it calls to others to heal and reminds them it’s OK - to feel, to be angry or sad, and that the world we experience can set the drag on high. But always it calls you in and forward." 

WATCH / SHARE “LAMINATE THE SKY” HERE
BUY / STREAM “LAMINATE THE SKY” HERE

Through its irrepressible storytelling and captivating sonics, again recorded with Nyles Spencer with Drew at The Tragically Hip's Bathouse Studio in Kingston, Ontario – promising better tone, wider strident-to-bliss dynamics, more of what this collusion of creative souls does best – OMBIIGIZI (pronounced om-BEE-ga-ZAY, meaning this is noisy) conjure a future from the remnants of the stolen past. 

“Ultimately, the main point of the songs is that within each of us is an ability to love oneself and to heal.”

LISTEN / SHARE “ZIIBI” HERE
BUY / STREAM “ZIIBI” HERE

MORE ABOUT OMBIIGIZI
The Anishinaabe revival is accelerating. Our artists are becoming more resurgent in all realms: telling the stories, singing the songs, and creating the imagery to further solidify our everlasting presence on this land. The soundtrack to this movement is diverse, profound, and beautiful. The Anishinaabe sonic revolution is richly layered and wide-reaching, inspiring and influencing all generations to gather, sing, and speak, as we’ve always done. And at the core of this renewal are artists like Ombiigizi.

Adam Sturgeon and Daniel Monkman have come together in the spirit of making noise in a good way for our people. They have documented this moment in time while paying homage to the ancestors who kept our language and stories alive. There is a deep respect and love for Anishinaabe sounds and voices. They proudly tell family and community stories, and they exquisitely conjure a hopeful future that will result from our current collective efforts to share our realities with each other and the world. - Waubgeshig Rice

WATCH / SHARE “CONNECTING” HERE
BUY / STREAM “CONNECTING” HERE

PRE-SAVE SHAME HERE

PERFORMANCE DATES
Sep 27 - Pop Montreal - MDP sur De Gaspé
Nov 22 - The Monarch Tavern - Toronto, ON
Nov 23 - TBA - London, ON

DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

SHAME TRACKLIST
1. Laminate The Sky 
2. Street Names And Land Claims 
3. Connecting 
4. What Was Said 
5. Hands Are Up 
6. City Trials 
7. Photograph 
8. Ziibi 
9. Oil Spills 
10. Shame 

OMBIIGIZI ONLINE
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK 
TWITTER