"A breath of fresh air... It not only works as potent commentary on Indigenous heritage, autonomy and experiences, but as gripping, dynamic, and thunderous music in and of itself. All that without an ounce of overshowing.

-JazzTimes

"Sweet Tooth is truly a work of art in that it enables us to communicate with each other beyond words and provides endless joy in discovering and understanding another."

-No Depression

CURRENT PROJECTS.

SWEET TOOTH.

A suite for Indigenous resistance, the debut album from Wabanaki bassist, composer, and songwriter Mali Obomsawin flies in the face of Western tropes that insist Indigenous cultures are monolithic, trapped in time. Sweet Tooth, released October 28, 2022 (Out of Your Head Records), blends Wabanaki stories and songs passed down in Obomsawin’s own family with original compositions for a performance that is at once intimately personal and globally pertinent. Highlighting centuries of clever adaptation and resistance in her own community, Obomsawin points toward abundant horizons for Indigenous peoples.

In three movements, Obomsawin’s Sweet Tooth honors the Indigenous ability to shape great art from the gallows of colonialism. The compositions reveal threads that bind blues, jazz, hymns, folk songs, and Native cultures, and foreground the breadth and continuity of Indigenous contributions to these genres. “Telling Indigenous stories through the language of jazz is not a new phenomenon,” Obomsawin explains. “My people have had to innovate endlessly to get our stories heard - learning to express ourselves in French, English, Abenaki… but sometimes words fail us, and we must use sound. Sweet Tooth is a testament to this.” Sweet Tooth is a celebration of Indigenous innovation, and an ingeniously envisioned debut for this composer-bandleader.