Welcome to The Extended Plays, where intimate live performance meets thoughtful conversation. For our third episode, filmed live at Humble Abode, we have invited musician, activist, and community voice, Niivi, to perform and sit down with our host, Sofia Dawson, for an intimate discussion about their work. 

Niivi writes thoughtful, cathartic anthems that bring a uniquely valuable perspective to Canadian music. Their lyrics are based heavily on personal experience, often sacrificing the comfort of privacy for the sake of spreading awareness. With their judgment-free creative process, it’s clear that Niivi lets their emotion flow directly onto the page without a filter for the listener, leading to both an organic sound and message.

After their first performance of a traditional traditional inuit song and its follow-up, No Pride in Genocide, Niivi discusses how music became an outlet for them to place and process grief. Their set continues with the hardcore ballad, “Hear no Howl,” and a conversation about its meaning in the context of the Inuit history. The show concluded with the traditional drum song  “Nalliniq”, and their in-depth view on what truth and reconciliation really means. 

Three songs. Three stories. This is the Extended Plays with Niivi. 

The Satisfactory are a Montreal-based band breathing new life into dance rock through their impassioned lyricism and infectious instrumentation. The Satisfactory’s aesthetic recalls the  musical stylings of the 1960s Britpop movement, allowing for upbeat and moshpit-friendly rock tracks, but they definitely are not afraid to get a little sad and downtrodden every now and again. The band’s take on a nostalgic era of music made them an easy pick as the focus for our second episode of The Extended Plays. 

Three of the four band members stopped by The Humble Abode to perform stripped-back versions of “Ask Me” and “Lover” from their new self-titled album, as well as treating our viewers to an unreleased track titled “Way Up in the Countryside”. They sat down with our host, Sofia Dawson, to discuss their history and origins as a group, their approaches to music, and their general distaste for Gene Gallagher. The conversations with the band members are insightful looks into the group’s experiences recording their newest release and the true enjoyment that can happen when creating and performing with the right people.