Black Belt Eagle Scout, the stage name of multi-instrumentalist Katherine Paul, sings a song of representation in “Nobody.”
The latest glimpse into her upcoming album, The Land, The Water, The Sky, “Nobody” is a gorgeously haunting tune, brimming with airy lyrics and a muscular arrangement.
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Yeah I feel it in my bones / And I find it through my home I see it in my dreams / Like a whisper spoke to me, the artist sings against a swelling soundscape of throat-tightening guitar licks and echoing drum hits. Nobody sang it for me like I wanna sing it to you, Paul sings again and again.
A member of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Paul created her forthcoming project with a mission “to record and reflect upon my journey back to my homelands and the challenges and the happiness it brought.” Her latest single helps to detail that story.
“When I was growing up, I didn’t have very many Native role models to look to on TV or the radio,” Paul explained in a statement. “It was within my own community that I found inspiring role models through our elders and our community leaders. With Native representation in music and television slowly growing, I often ask myself where I stand within representation in music and how I want to be seen. This song is about the relationship I have with my own representation in music.”
The song’s accompanying music video depicts a day with an Indigenous family, showing the moments of love and joy they share with each other and with the land. “We see the love that Indigenous families have and the laughter that brings us together,” Paul detailed the video, filmed and edited by Evan Benally Atwood. “Evan’s work in capturing the meaning of kinship is incredible.”
The follow-up to her 2019 release, At the Party With My Brown Friends, her new album is set to drop February 10. Paul’s latest single follows the previously released songs “My Blood Runs Through This Land” and “Don’t Give Up.”
Check out “Nobody” and the music video, below.
Photo by Nate Lemuel / Courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR