Being both the Indian and the Cowboy is a tall order, but it’s the only way Anishinaabe singer Tashiina Buswa can see as a way to navigate a world that’s infected to its roots with colonial ideals. ‘Indian Cowboy’ takes the old Hollywood trope of Cowboys vs. Indians and injects it with nuance. Growing up with a foot in two worlds (one where Indigenous identity is held sacred and one where colonialism works to tear that idea down), Buswa muses on the duality of organized religion/Indigeneity, and staying connected to your culture in a world designed to destroy it. “You want it? You got your Indian Cowboy” she sings in exasperation at the end of the track, defeated, yet with some secret, triumphant sense of beating the system at its own game. In their short time together as a band, they have played festivals across Canada including Sled Island, Sappyfest, NXNE, Flourish and Pop Montreal, and shared stages with Dehd, Ombiigizi, Chad VanGaalen and Julie Doiron. They returned to the studio in Winter 2023 to work on their debut album, produced by Scott Munro (Preoccupations) and Marlaena Moore.