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CD review: Indigenous’ Broken Lands
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Indigenous came in the limelight circa the late Nineties as a Native American group raised on the Nakota reservation in South Dakota. The band included several members of frontman Mato Nanji's family, and the debut CD Things We Do included the hit "Now That You’re Gone." Some pundits focused on Nanji's clever guitar work, comparing his bluesy playing to Stevie Ray Vaughan as well as Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana, but sometimes the songs simply provided vehicles for his solos.
Now Indigenous is basically a means for Nanji's solo recordings, and the new Broken Lands emphasizes his singing and succinct songwriting as well as his guitar licks. Much of the material was co-written with his wife Leah, and it expresses deeply personal real-life destitution. On the riveting "Place I Know," Nanji recalls a neighborhood on the reservation destroyed by alcoholism and drug use.
But musically, there's little influence from Nanji's Native American heritiage -- the textures are more heartland Americana than blues-rock. “Should I Stay” is a characteristically radio-friendly track, and his skilled chops are manifest on the closing number "Waiting."
