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

OMBIIGIZI ANNOUNCES NEW LP, SHAME, SHARES SINGLE & VIDEO FOR “LAMINATE THE SKY”

SOPHOMORE ALBUM PRODUCED BY KEVIN DREW OUT NOVEMBER 1, 2024 VIA ARTS & CRAFTS

PRE-SAVE SHAME HERE

WATCH / SHARE “LAMINATE THE SKY” HERE
BUY / STREAM “LAMINATE THE SKY” 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), share the news of their sophomore album, SHAME, accompanied by the single and music video for "Laminate The Sky." 

"In my shame there is truth" OMBIIGIZI sings on the album opening track, laying down the atmospheric pulse of their followup to the much lauded debut, 2022’s Polaris finalist and Juno nominated Sewn Back Together. Delving into the Anishinaabe ancestry of its core members, with OMBIIGIZI's particularly sonic aspect – Indigenous futurism with a heavy dose of 90s Alt, Psych Rock, and Shoegaze – "Laminate The Sky" portrays “a visual representation of the world we are in,” Monkman says. With the first cheaply plasticized treaty cards ("that no stores would accept") as poetic reference, OMBIIGIZI's vaporous melodies, mingling with uncharacteristically stripped back guitars and gentle rhythmic propulsion, set the band's gripping sophomore album – SHAME – alight, with its perfect mix of terrestrial and spiritual elements. 

"'Laminate The Sky' to us symbolizes freedom in a lot of ways," the band says. "The idea comes from these things that Indigenous people are given at birth called a status card. Back in the day, they'd give you this crappy cardboard paper with a cheap laminated seal that everyone off the reservation thought was fake. Nowadays, we have high-tech ones that I scan at the border to go work in the United States, but even ten years ago my pass to get off the reservation would be rejected in the city. It was a rude awakening in my formative years, being self-conscious of my place.”

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

Single Artwork // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

"Shame is a thing we all share," the band says of the album's title and core theme. "While the last album 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." 

A song, at first, and an album that reckons deeply with identity and place. Following the recent singles "Connecting" and "Ziibi," OMBIIGIZI now embarks on the starkly honest yet richly uplifting work entitled SHAME, out November 1 via Arts & Crafts. 

Through its irrepressible storytelling and captivating sonics, again produced with Broken Social Scene's 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 exists to do best –OMBIIGIZI (pronounced om-BEE-ga-ZAY, meaning this is noisy) conjure a future from the remnants of the stolen past.

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

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