RED FUTURE

Snotty Nose Rez Kids have always repped their roots in the Haisla Nation with equal amounts of outsized attitude and unsparing social commentary. But on their sixth album, MCs Young D and Yung Trybez seek to transcend trauma by imagining the better world the next generation could inherit. While *RED FUTURE* is dripping with the duo’s signature swag, it fuels a vision of Indigenous futurism that makes space for fellow creators from all nations and disciplines. On “FREE,” Chief Rueben George of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation delivers an inspirational sermon to tee up an anti-colonialist trap anthem infused with a gospel grandeur and a soulful chorus hook from alt-folk crooner Aysanabee. And on the towering title track, SNRK team up with Aboriginal Australian dance-pop duo Electric Fields to outfit their Indigenous utopia with a ready-made national anthem of its own. But the elevated conceptual ambitions of *RED FUTURE* never come out at the expense of the duo’s eccentric personality: On “FUTURE ANCESTORS,” they masterfully weave icy 808s, dramatic string arrangements, and otherworldly harmonies from avant-rock luminary Jeremy Dutcher, while still slipping in a *Shoresy* shout-out.

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