nêhiyawak hails from amiskwaciy on Treaty 6 territory. Comprised of Kris Harper, Matthew Cardinal, and Marek Tyler, three Indigenous musicians coalescing at the intersection between traditional and contemporary music. Their sound at times loud and sweeping, and in moments - reticent and careful. Their first EP in November 2016 with Colin Stewart (The New Pornographers, Black Mountain, and Dan Mangan) the music balances the band’s heritage with the present. Indie-rock guitar and dance floor synths blend and walk alongside the steady beats of carved cedar log and hand drums. nêhiyawak tells stories, capturing them in time through honeyed and haunting vocals, swaying in and out of the cacophony of electronic and analog sounds. Within the framework of the conventional song, the band creates and adds their own history and stage. Collecting and piecing together their experiences —existing simultaneously between diverse and disparate cultures— nêhiyawak shares with its audience their unique expression of Indigeneity in Canada today.

Is Diamond Mind an induced state? Is it a musical salve poured from the essences of needlessly diverse influences like Chet Baker, Mount Eerie and Joanna Newsom? Is it a movement? Is it a secret or is it a joke? Can you blog it? Can you change it or will it change you? If you force it will it come? What will the community think? Does Diamond Mind float? What amps does it use, and at what wattage? Which strings? What really happens after rehearsal? Does it run speed trials? Is it a strife - a struggle uphill? Is it anything other than a band from a Northern town? Does it matter?

Who’s curious?


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