Evan Redsky is a songwriter, hailing from the First Nations Reserve of Mississaugi First Nation. Raised in Blind River and now residing in Toronto, ON. His music seamlessly weaves traditional storytelling, delicate nuance, and poignant commentary on the human condition into cathartic highway-song vignettes.

Drawing from early childhood memories of hearing classic Canadian roots music on one of his reserve’s few available radio stations, Redsky felt compelled to reclaim that form as a vehicle for recounting his own experience as a “Canadian”. Surviving a lineage plagued by the fall out of colonialism, his perspective on the plight of the Indigenous peoples of Canada is one that is deeply important in understanding the urgency of truth and reconciliation.

About Oblivion, Redsky says, “About four years ago, I didn’t think there was much reason to pursue music anymore. I was in the middle of a personal reckoning and struggling to make sense of the life I had lived up until that point. Having spent several years on the road with a rock band had been my only endeavor. Right up until it self-imploded. I was between leaving something important behind and figuring out what the next step was.

“That next step slowly revealed itself as I began writing about my own history. Started weaving my lived experiences into the music I grew up listening to. The highway songs and FM radio that covered northern Ontario and the small reserve where I was raised.

“It was a refuge for me to return to my own stories. A spiritual break from the weight of living in the city. But even those moments were still so few and far between because I was battling addiction in the process. Back and forth between pushing myself forward and falling back into a darker pattern. I still struggle with it no doubt, but it's been through this process of getting these stories out, that I have been able to finally find some balance.

“In a genre that is woefully white and largely underrepresented, this is a record by me, for my people. It’s an artifact and extension of our oral histories for the next seven generations to pick up. But it's also a record for those who may want to understand us better. Who may not know why some of us struggle to survive in a country that fights to see our own oblivion.

“I'm super proud of this collection of songs. And am humbled by the distance that has gotten me here. It took a reckoning to push me down to the bottom, but it’ll be the art that will push me forward. So here’s to those who could not tell their stories. Who could not live to fight their way back out from Oblivion.”

Growing up, Redsky was often compelled to hitchhike from Blind River to Toronto to immerse himself in the city’s burgeoning punk and hardcore music scene. Redsky recounts sleeping under bridges and on construction sites in order to stay as close as possible to the exciting culture. This commitment led to him joining up and coming punk band Single Mothers, with whom Redsky would remain a dedicated member for half a decade. Touring around the world and performing at high profile festivals such as Pitchfork Festival and Primavera Sound, provided Redsky with more context and perspective on his humble beginnings. He soon turned his focus towards advocacy for the injustices he and his family had faced their entire lives.

Redsky began hosting fundraising events for and bringing awareness to the clean water crisis which deeply affected his family still residing on the Shoal Lake #40 Reservation in Northern Ontario. Redsky’s desire to share the stories of his experiences can be traced to his prominent lineage of storytellers within his community. Notably, his great grandfather, whose work translating pictographs and novel, “The Great Leader of The Ojibway”, was published by the University of Toronto in the early 1970’s. His great grandfather was a prominent member of the spiritual group known as the Mediwiwin, and was one of the last people to possess ancient birch bark scrolls which contained etchings that date back hundreds of years. These scrolls informed the community of much of their history before being disenfranchised by the Glenbow Museum. He was also involved in building the Cecilia Jeffrey Residential School in Kenora, ON as a child. Infamously known as the school where Chanie Wenjack attended in Gord Downie’s Secret Path saga. The same residential school which Redsky’s father and grandfather attended.