Lay Me Down

Stream 'The One I Need' - awal.ffm.to/closertoyou

The One I Need

A TASTE OF YESTERDAY

Clown

gold piece (prod. sebraca)

Coyote stories are central to the Syilx people’s oral traditions. For countless generations, the Syilx have taught their children valuable lessons through the misadventures of Coyote, or Sənk̓lip. Sənk̓lip is a mischievous, flawed figure. He’s selfish and boastful. His desires get him into troubles that are often comedic. And yet the Creator favours him. Syilx children are entertained by his foibles, but they also learn from his mistakes. As Sənk̓lip learns from his failings, so do the Syilx children who are rapt in his tales.

This idea, of learning through failure, is central to Francis Baptiste’s new album Sənk̓lip, the Trickster.

Baptiste is a songwriter who sings in both English and Nsyilxcən [nah-silk-sen], his Native language, which is currently an endangered language, with fewer than 100 fluent speakers. Through his music, Baptiste tries to keep his language alive. Every song is an opportunity for him to teach Nsyilxcən vocabulary to his son, himself, and anyone else who’s listening.

A divorced, recovering addict, Baptiste balances being a single father and being a middle-aged musician, trying to survive in BC’s most expensive city with a musician’s meagre income. Sənk̓lip, the Trickster chronicles his struggles with fatherhood, addiction, and depression, through the lens of the urbanised Indigenous experience.

“My son is born-and-raised East Van. I’m from the Osoyoos Indian Band Reservation. My struggle is how to instil in him a real sense that he is a Syilx man without growing up on the Rez. This album is my attempt to cope with that struggle and address it.”

If We Let It

This is the first of three sets of all original music. All three sets of music were completed in a 3 year time frame and recorded at Stanhope Studios. They are part of a larger project called My Trilogy of Songs. This first set is called Stan's Sweet Songs.

Will or Surrender

Written by Dingo Paisley
Vocals - Dingo Paisley
Rhythm guitar - Dingo Paisley
Bass - Dingo Paisley
Lead guitar - Muffler

Lyrics:
I thought the world was ending
I thought the bells had rung
I though the world was ending
I thought my fears had come
I thought the world was ending
But it turned out to be...

Another ring around the sun
Another ring around my thumb
Another string that's come undone
Another ring around the sun

I thought the world was ending
I thought the bells had rung
I thought I'd be so lonely
I thought I'd feel so glum
I thought I'd be so lonely
But it turned out to be...

That I'd have you to break my fall
Chasing zombies 'round the mall
Looting food, we're up against the wall
Staying up 'til the break of dawn

And as the world is ending
As the US drops its bombs
Don't forget to find your loved ones 
Hold them close the whole night long
And as the world is ending
Try not to think how it's just...

Another ring around the sun
A button underneath their thumbs
Another string they've pulled undone
Another ring around the sun

Love for real

Joe Dargavel

Related tracks