Midnight Shine: I Need Angels

By Kerry Doole

Midnight Shine - "I Need Angels" (Indie): The roots-rockers from the James Bay region have made inroads with three albums, and, with any justice, this powerful track and new video should be a real career boost.

"I Need Angels" was co-written by Midnight Shine singer and leader Adrian Sutherland and bandmates Zach Tomatuk and Stanley Louttit, and produced by John-Angus MacDonald (The Trews). It is taken from the album High Road, released in the spring.

Sutherland, who hails from the Cree community of Attawapiskat in remote Northern Ontario, explains that "'I Need Angels' because there are a lot of people struggling in Canada’s Indigenous far North communities. We’ve had a lot of loss, a lot of tragedies, and I think it’s important for me as an artist to shed light on these issues,”

“Being isolated in the North can be very tough, and I know a lot of people who suffer from depression. The song is about that inner struggle to keep positive and not give up, and to hang on to hope and faith despite the darkness.”

The song features a passionate vocal performance from Sutherland as he pleads for help with "a sickness inside of me, it runs so deep." 

Its message is amplified by the clip for "I Need Angels," the first music video ever shot in the community of Attawapiskat. It was produced and co-directed by Midnight Shine’s manager RoseAnna Schick, and shot and directed by Vancouver-based cinematographer Cliff Hokanson.

To help create awareness of the suicide epidemic in Canada’s North, a picture frame in the video features a haunting image of a different young person who has taken their own life. The photos came in from families across Canada, willing to share the cherished memory of their loved one in order to try and help someone else. Powerful stuff.

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Publicity/Management: RoseAnna Schick - rascreative@yahoo.ca