Hey Australia, Midnight Oil are back – and it’s not all nostalgia, shaved heads and janky dances.
The legendary Australian rock band are set to release Gadigal Land on Friday, marking their first new tune in 18 years.
Even better, they plan to use the occasion to call for Indigenous reconciliation.
The rock dogs say they will showcase the track on Saturday during the National Indigenous Music Awards, heralding the first release from their upcoming “mini-album”, The Makarrata Project.
The band says the track features vocals from Kaleena Briggs, Bunna Lawrie, and Dan Sultan, plus the work of Gadigal poet Joel Davison.
In a statement posted on their website, Midnight Oil said the track was written in support of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the 2017 document which called for the nation to enshrine an Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander “voice to Parliament” in the Australian Constitution.
The unprecedented document was borne from the consensus of First Nations peoples from across the map, but successive federal governments have failed to enact its key suggestions.
“Hopefully this song and The Makarrata Project mini-album we’ve created alongside our First Nations friends can help shine a bit more light on the urgent need for genuine reconciliation in this country and in many other places too,” Midnight Oil state.
The band says they will donate their proceeds from the release to movements which serve to “elevate” the Uluru Statement.
The Makarrata Project is slated to arrive in late October.
The National Indigenous Music Awards will be broadcast on NITV from 7pm AEST on Saturday, August 8.
View this post on Instagram
