nêhiyawak are a Canadian

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

indie rock group from

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. The band's name is derived from ''Nêhiyawak'', an

endonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

for the Cree people. The band's debut album ''

nipiy ''nipiy'' is the debut album by Edmonton-based band nêhiyawak, released on October 24, 2019, on Arts & Crafts Productions. It was nominated for Indigenous Music Album of the Year at the 2020 Juno Awards, and shortlisted for the 2020 Polaris M ...

'', released in 2019, was a

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

nominee for Indigenous Music Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2020,Melody Lau
"Alessia Cara and Tory Lanez lead the 2020 Juno nominations"
CBC Music, January 28, 2019. and was shortlisted for the

2020 Polaris Music Prize The 2020 edition of the Canada, Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on October 19, 2020. The longlist was announced on June 15, 2020, with the shortlist following on July 15, 2020 and the winner announced on October 19, 2020. Due to the CO ...

. The band consists of singer and guitarist Kris Harper, bassist Matthew Cardinal, and drummer Marek Tyler, all members of the Cree nation.Mike Usinger
"Following no one's rules, nêhiyawak proudly looks to both the past and the future with nipiy"
''

The Georgia Straight ''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools ...

'', December 4, 2019. Their style combines

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such ...

with

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie rock, indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion (music), distortion and effects, a ...

, with lyrics sung in both English and Plains Cree. Initially coming together to compose and perform the film score for ''ôtênaw'', a documentary by Conor McNally about Cree educator Dwayne Donald,Laura Stanley
"nêhiyawak Tackle the Past and Sound Like the Future on 'starlight'"
''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'', December 6, 2018. they later released a self-titled independent three-song EP in 2017. They subsequently signed with Arts & Crafts Productions, which released the EP Starlight in 2018 and nipiy in 2019.

References

External links

Arts & Crafts Records Page

Bandcamp Page

KillBeat Music Page
Canadian indie rock groups Musical groups from Edmonton First Nations musical groups Arts & Crafts Productions artists Canadian shoegaze musical groups {{Authority control