Anishinaabe-Canadian alternative band OMBIIGIZI unpack complex feelings around freedom, place, belonging, and truth on “Laminate the Sky,” the moody, brooding, and impassioned lead single off their upcoming sophomore album ‘Shame.’
Stream: “Laminate The Sky” – OMBIIGIZI
It’s jarring to see someone – anyone, really – in a space suit.
On the barren, lifeless moon, they’re a lonely stranger in a strange land, wearing what they need to in order to survive the harsh, unlivable environment.
But back home on Earth, the space suit feels just as alien and extraterrestrial. It’s not made for our world, and as a result, doesn’t fit in; in fact, despite how powerful and miraculous that suit is – and it’s the work of real-life magic, if ever it existed – the wearer nevertheless sticks out like a sore thumb.
Perhaps this is why OMBIIGIZI chose lunar footage from the Space Age, interspersed with fresh film of their own astronaut cosplays, to explore their experiences with (and the concept of) freedom. For the Anishinaabe-Canadian band, ‘freedom’ isn’t simple, even if it should be. The Polaris Prize shortlisters – comprised of Adam Sturgeon (Status/Non-Status) and Daniel Monkman (Zoon) – have often felt like outsiders even in their native Canada, where the contrasts on and off the reservation – two worlds, both of which they call home – can feel, in a word, stark.
Kind of like seeing (or being) an astronaut here on Earth.
Need more time
covered in your ties
Lush and green
smothered by the dream
Mooshum, gaagaagi
Late august moon
Wild rice and you and you
When you speak with nothing
Nothing left to say
Long forgotten promises
Oil broken dreams
In my shame there is truth
Laminate the sky
Simulation where you go
Laminate the sky
OMBIIGIZI unpack their nuanced feelings around freedom, place, belonging, and truth on “Laminate the Sky,” premiering today on Atwood Magazine. Following “Ziibi” (released in July), “Laminate the Sky” is the second and lead single off OMBIIGIZI’s forthcoming sophomore album Shame (out November 1st via Arts & Crafts).
The band – who describe their music as “indigenous futurism with a ’90s alt tint – get particularly brooding and reflective on their latest song, blending poignant piano and guitar melodies together over a heavy, emotionally charged beat and lyrics that reflect on their shared identity, navigating the world as members of the Anishinaabe – a collective group of First Nations peoples that includes members of the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, Mississaugas, Nipissing, and Algonquin peoples.
“‘Laminate the Sky’ to me symbolizes freedom in a lot of ways,” Daniel Monkman tells Atwood Magazine. “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.”
Don’t wanna believe
this might be the end
Lived a hundred lives
within a hundred lies
Weather balloon
red lake gloom
Sundown on the land
blood orange sky, skies
The band’s music video, directed by Jordan Allen and filmed by Marshall Stonefish, is described as a “visual representation of the world we are in,” and accentuates Monkman and Sturgeon’s poetic portrayal of identity, place, what freedom looks like and how it feels in the “real” world – where you’re able to do what you like, but you can’t help but feel out-of-place. Still, “Laminate the Sky” is not meant to be seen as a lament, but rather as a reclamation – a resounding mission statement that serves as the pulse of their sophomore album Shame, which delves into their Anishinaabe ancestry.
“Shame is a thing we all share,” the band says. “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.”
Produced with Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew (who also produced OMBIIGIZI’s Polaris Prize and Juno Award nominated debut LP, Sewn Back Together), Shame promises to be an exhilarating, moving journey deep into its members’ identities and into universal, intimate, and relatable themes of belonging and place as OMBIIGIZI continue to hone their unique alternative sound.
As the band themselves like to say, they’re continuing to “conjure a future from the remnants of a stolen past.” Their latest song’s chorus certainly leaves a lasting mark on the soul as they invite us to consider the impacts of past actions on our present reality: “When you speak with nothing, nothing left to say. Long forgotten promises, oil broken dreams. In my shame there is truth, laminate the sky.“
Stream “Laminate the Sky” and get lost in OMBIIGIZI’s enchanting sound exclusively on Atwood Magazine!
When you speak with nothing
Nothing left to say
Long forgotten promises
Oil broken dreams
In my shame there is truth
Laminate the sky
Simulation where you go
Laminate the sky
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Stream: “Laminate The Sky” – OMBIIGIZI
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© Natasha Roberts
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