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The two B.C. artists share a collborative single for National Indigenous People’s Day.
By
Darryl Sterdan
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Lauren Mann and Johnny Aitken deliver a dose of topical Medicine to help heal our world in their meditative and thoughtful new folk-pop single — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Released to coincide with National Indigenous People’s Day, the collaboration between the two British Columbia artists focuses on truth, healing, and reconciliation, touching on everything from environmental devastation to the victims of residential schools:
“Children buried in the dirt
Stolen orange shirts
What magic number will give them worth
Trees are falling to the ground
Even when endangered species found
When one hits the forest floor do we hear the sound
Another woman disappeared
Families living their worst fear
Will we say her name instead of ignoring the tears
Where is the medicine
When the sacred lands are scoured.”
“One of the primary inspirations for me for this song was creating more awareness on the topic of Indigenous issues in Canada,”says Aitken, a multi-disciplinary artists from Mayne Island. “There need to be more collaborations like this that provide an opportunity for a member of the Settler community to get to know a member of the Indigenous community while creating together. Healing together. Writing this song with Lauren was such joy, we walked and talked and created something beautiful on a topic riddled with complex injustices.”
Adds Mann, a singer-songwriter from Pender Island: “Being invited by Johnny into this collaboration was an honour. I hope this song draws more non-indigenous folks into the conversation about injustices that are still happening today. Johnny and I approached the creative process with curiosity and slowness. We knew what we wanted to create but took our time getting there as we unpacked ideas of reconciliation, truth, and healing. Not only did I forge a deep friendship with Johnny through this process, but it also helped show me what it really means to embrace the process and create space for healing.”
The pair co-wrote Medicine over the course of five years by getting together on SḴŦAḴ (Mayne Island) and SDȺY¸ES (Pender Island), going for walks in different parts of the island and having lengthy conversations about reconciliation, truth and healing, and lived experiences. In the process of writing this song, a friendship was formed, strengthened, and trust was cultivated and nourished. Slowing down and taking their time permitted space for subtle nuances to appear within the lyrics. The song was produced by Adam Iredale-Gray (Aerialists, Fish and Bird) at Fiddlehead Studio on Mayne Island and Toronto.
Aitken identifies as a queer 2Spirit with Coast Salish, Haida and Scottish lineage. He considers himself “mixed up” in a beautiful way and sees this blood mixture as a gift and sometimes a troublesome curse. Johnny’s blood combination allows him to imagine and create through the lens of blended cultures and histories. These give him an entangled but unique and curious perspective. In 2024 Johnny began to shift his energy towards merely two methods of creating: Carving and writing. This difficult decision from creating art in many ways, to a focus of just two disciplines, has not been an easy one! Johnny has found that this shifting into a more focused direction of creating quite necessary as he ages.
Meanwhile, in an industry where an all-or-nothing approach is often believed to be the only way, Mann has embraced the island mentality of slowing down and creating space for the different facets of life to coexist. Settling in the Southern Gulf Islands was the complete antidote to the hustle of the touring lifestyle, and becoming the creative director of a local arts organization gave her the opportunity to be on the other side of the industry. Through her position, she has played a strong role in supporting local and touring artists, as well as running arts programming in the community, including Pender Island’s annual Mosaic Festival.
After her last tour in 2019 and subsequent release of Memory & Desire in 2020, Lauren took an informal hiatus to focus on her work in the community, take up sailing, go backpacking, plant a garden, get married, and become a mother. While adventuring and embracing new seasons of life, the desire to create through lyrics and music has always been simmering just below the surface. All of these various endeavours inspire her artistic pursuit, giving depth and breadth to her writing and playing. She has returned to the studio to explore new ways of collaborating and recording in the midst of regular rhythms, exploring new musical directions with the piano-driven folk-pop foundation for which she is known.
Listen to Medicine above, hear more from Lauren Mann below, connect with her on her website, Instagram and Facebook, and find Johny Aitken on his website and Instagram.
