Photos by Ilka Schlockermann, Ming Wu, Peter Gannushkin, Žiga Koritnik; Collage by Ryan Hover.
Medicine Singers, an experimental collective born from years of collaboration between the Algonquin powwow group Eastern Medicine Singers and Monotonix guitarist Yonatan Gat, have announced that their self-titled debut LP will arrive July 1 via Stone Tapes, a new label founded by Gat along with Joyful Noise Recordings. Along with the news, they've shared the record's lead single, "Daybreak."
In addition to Gat, bandleader Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson, and the rest of the Eastern Medicine Singers, the new supergroup also comprises dynamic trumpet player Jaimie Branch, Thor Harris and Christopher Pravdica of Swans, fellow no wave icon Ikue Mori, and ambient multi-instrumentalist Laraaji. The new track, which follows "Sanctuary" — shared in January — as Medicine Singers second song, also features synth gurus Ryan Olson and Gelbart, who pepper it with glitches and distortion.
At its core, though, "Daybreak" is deeply entrenched in the group's tradition of preserving Native American culture, centering an Eastern Algonquin prayer sacred to the indigenous people of Massachusetts.
“Right now, there are less than ten people in the world who speak [the Eastern Algonquin dialect], but maybe this new recording can change that,” Jamieson explains. “The people of the Pokanoket are the people of the first light — we see the light first — we are the guardians of the first gates. It's a tradition for us to do these prayers in the morning to thank the creator for life. It's a very important song, and I gave it to my tribe, the Pocasset Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation. It's important to keep these songs and pass them down to the generations — that's why we want to show the words, to help people know that this language is still out there and some people are still speaking it."
Watch the song's psychedelic lyric video below.
