Following last month's acoustic Wayward Flyers Volume 1 EP, Crown Lands have returned with a new single. The Canadian duo have shared "End of the Road," which you can hear below alongside a music video.
Arriving today through Universal Music Canada, "End of the Road" centres on the disproportionate violence and ongoing injustices experienced by Indigenous communities, written in tribute to the Indigenous womxn, girls and two-spirits who have gone missing or have been murdered on British Columbia's Yellowhead Highway 16, known also as the Highway of Tears.
"Violence against Indigenous people is something I have witnessed firsthand throughout my life," vocalist/drummer Cody Bowles explained in a statement. "I am half Mi'kmaw and grew up spending of a lot of my childhood in and around Alderville First Nation. I identify as Two-Spirit and dream of a better world for the brilliant Indigenous womxn, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people who face adversity every day for their very existence. It's up to all of us to make this world a better place for future generations, and this song is a small message of hope adding to the rising wave of Indigenous resistance throughout this land."
The song's accompanying video, co-directed by Alex Smith and Tim Myles, features contextual narration from Tanya Tagaq, a cast of Indigenous dancers choreographed by Teineisha Richards, and drone footage from the Highway of Tears.
"To create the choreography I had to go to a pretty deep and dark place and put myself in the shoes of both the women who went missing and the families of those women who suffered with their loss," Richards explained. "I wanted to express the desperate feeling of someone fighting to escape, but with no redemption. Additionally, I aimed to generate a sense of self-empowerment and unity within a shared struggle, by my use of staccato, aggressive, and synchronized movement during the group sections of choreography. Most of the choreography derived from that dark, yet powerful place, and the overall message and feeling I received from the song."
"End of the Road" will appear on Crown Lands' forthcoming self-titled debut alongside previously shared singles "Howlin' Back" and "Spit It Out." The Dave Cobb-produced album will arrive August 13 through UMC.
Crown Lands:
1. Spit It Out
2. River
3. Leadfoot
4. Howlin' Back
5. End of the Road
6. Forest Song
7. Sun Dance
Pre-order Crown Lands.
Arriving today through Universal Music Canada, "End of the Road" centres on the disproportionate violence and ongoing injustices experienced by Indigenous communities, written in tribute to the Indigenous womxn, girls and two-spirits who have gone missing or have been murdered on British Columbia's Yellowhead Highway 16, known also as the Highway of Tears.
"Violence against Indigenous people is something I have witnessed firsthand throughout my life," vocalist/drummer Cody Bowles explained in a statement. "I am half Mi'kmaw and grew up spending of a lot of my childhood in and around Alderville First Nation. I identify as Two-Spirit and dream of a better world for the brilliant Indigenous womxn, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people who face adversity every day for their very existence. It's up to all of us to make this world a better place for future generations, and this song is a small message of hope adding to the rising wave of Indigenous resistance throughout this land."
The song's accompanying video, co-directed by Alex Smith and Tim Myles, features contextual narration from Tanya Tagaq, a cast of Indigenous dancers choreographed by Teineisha Richards, and drone footage from the Highway of Tears.
"To create the choreography I had to go to a pretty deep and dark place and put myself in the shoes of both the women who went missing and the families of those women who suffered with their loss," Richards explained. "I wanted to express the desperate feeling of someone fighting to escape, but with no redemption. Additionally, I aimed to generate a sense of self-empowerment and unity within a shared struggle, by my use of staccato, aggressive, and synchronized movement during the group sections of choreography. Most of the choreography derived from that dark, yet powerful place, and the overall message and feeling I received from the song."
"End of the Road" will appear on Crown Lands' forthcoming self-titled debut alongside previously shared singles "Howlin' Back" and "Spit It Out." The Dave Cobb-produced album will arrive August 13 through UMC.
Crown Lands:
1. Spit It Out
2. River
3. Leadfoot
4. Howlin' Back
5. End of the Road
6. Forest Song
7. Sun Dance
Pre-order Crown Lands.
