Status/Non-Status: Mashkiki Sunset

By Kerry Doole

Status/Non-Status - Mashkiki Sunset (You've Changed Records): Adam Sturgeon, the Indigenous singer/songwriter who leads Status/Non-Status, has had an eventful week. Last Thursday, Ombiigizi, his project with Daniel Monkman of Zoon, made the shortlist of the Polaris Music Prize for its debut album Sewn Together.

This week, Sturgeon's focus returns to Status/Non-Status with the announcement that a second full-length album, Surely Travel, will be released on Sept. 23. In tandem with that news came the release of the album's first single, Mashkiki Sunset.

Status/Non-Status is the evolving musical project of Sturgeon, an Anishinaabe artist and community worker, and a close-knit group of collaborators. 2019 debut album Warrior Down was long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize and shortlisted for the 2022 SOCAN Songwriter Prize for the album track Find A Home.

The new album is launched in a spirited fashion by Mashkiki Sunset, a track that blends roots, rock, and psychedelic elements in a seamless fashion. At times, it suggests the sound of early R.E.M., never a bad thing. “Mashkiki is the Anishinaabe word for medicine and this song serves as a dedication to love, one of our 7 sacred teachings,” says Sturgeon in a label press release. The song is effectively accompanied by a colourful animated video from director Sarah Houle (of Ghostkeeper). 

Describing the upcoming album, the press release notes that "Recorded over 10 days at Deadpan Studios in Sudbury, the goal was to chisel things down to the bone. Where past records built atmosphere out of heavy swaths of sound, overlaid with harmonies, the band opted for a single vocal take, a Wurlitzer, and ran a $100 classical guitar through an amp. Written in the company of others, whether from the back of a van, or with a baby on the other side of the door, Sturgeon wrote sections of the record in near silence — whispered lyrics and muted bass riffs that started as lullabies, only to be blown out later."

We await the full album with keen interest.

Links

Booking: QC: Marilyne Lacombe, CAN: Juliana Carlevaris

Management: Victory Pool –  Jesse Northey & Carly McFadden

Press/Media: Killbeat Music – Ken Beattie