ATTAWAPISKAT — Midnight Shine’s third music video will receive its debut at the 2019 Yorkton Film Festival, as they present Leather Skin to kick off opening night festival program on Thursday, May 23. It will be the very first time anyone sees the video, which becomes available online starting Friday, May 24.
The band full of Cree talent finds its roots in Attawapiskat, as Leather Skin filming took place on the coast of the James Bay in remote Northern Ontario. To reach the isolated beach requires traveling 90 minutes north of Attawapiskat by boat which leads to a set of small islands. With the resulting video shot in Ontario and Nunavut, a crew from Ontario, Manitoba, and B.C., and with the video debut in Saskatchewan, Leather Skin makes for a lovely little piece of ‘Canadiana cinema’ ready to be shared with the rest of the world.
The song itself was inspired long ago by Coldplay’s captivating beach video for Yellow, while Midnight Shine frontman Adrian Sutherland dreamed of one day shooting his own music video on the remote beaches near his home.
“I often think about going to my favourite place,” Sutherland sings in the production, peering into the camera as he strolls the stunning shoreline.
With footage from the Twin Islands interspersed with shots captured on the dusty streets of Attawapiskat, the video shows both sides of Sutherland’s life – the pursuit of music juxtaposed with his simple life out on the land.
Besides Leather Skin being the third music video from Midnight Shine in the past six months, their cover of Heart of Gold has been viewed on YouTube nearly 200,000 times since its January release. It has also been nominated for a Golden Sheaf Award at the Yorkton Film Festival for Performing Arts & Entertainment. The awards are handed out Saturday, May 25, with the same production team of RoseAnna Schick and Cliff Hokanson, who shot their cover of Heart of Gold, and is also behind Leather Skin.
Midnight Shine are also set to play their first full Winnipeg concert on May 18 at The Pyramid Cabaret. Footage will be shot for the Lonely Boy music video on this evening as well.
The band’s current album High Road is nominated for Best Rock Album and Best Producer/Engineer at this year’s Indigenous Music Awards. Midnight Shine will perform at the Indigenous Music Awards on Friday May 17, and Adrian Sutherland will co-host the awards along with Beatrice Love.
