After teasing their sophomore effort for the better part of this year (and last), news of OMBIIGIZI's follow-up to the JUNO-nominated, 2022 Polaris short-listed and Exclaim! year-end best-of contender Sewn Back Together has finally arrived: Shame is due out through Arts & Crafts on November 1.
Produced by Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew, Shame saw the Adam Sturgeon and Daniel Monkman-led band converging on the Tragically Hip's Bathouse Studio in Kingston, ON, to record what press notes describe as a collection of "Indigenous futurism with a heavy dose of '90s alt, psych rock and shoegaze."
"Shame is a thing we all share," the band shared of the record in a release. "While the last album focused a lot on the positive force of healing despite odds, Shame lets 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."
Today, they've previewed the record with new single "Laminate the Sky," which follows the previously released singles "Ziibi" and "Connecting."
"'Laminate the Sky' to us symbolizes freedom in a lot of ways," OMBIIGIZI explained. "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."
Listen to their latest below, where you can also find the album's tracklist.
Shame:
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