Steve Von Till of NEUROSIS and twenty students from Browning Public Schools — working together as FIREKEEPER NOISE COLLECTIVE — have released "iiyiikǎakimǎan", out today through Firekeeper Alliance Records to mark World Suicide Prevention Day. The Blackfoot title means to try hard, to persevere; the collective glosses it as "We Have Resolve And Will Persevere".
FIREKEEPER ALLIANCE, whose work with young people and families across the Blackfeet Nation we covered in July when their NEUROSIS short film premiered, tends to use a different word than the one on the calendar. "Around the Firekeeper camp, we see every day as suicide prevention day — though we tend to prefer the word reduction," the collective said. "This work is ongoing, relational, and built into everything we do."
The distinction matters to them. Reducing suicide, as they describe it, means honest conversations about suicidality, less stigma, and wider access to strengths-based clinical support — but it also means deliberately building up the things that make a life feel connected, meaningful and worth showing up for. "So today, we want to share something that shows what that work can actually look like."
The recording happened in May, at Buffalo Hide Academy and Red Eagle Campground. Students from the Heavy Music Symposium class laid down guitar drones and spoken word, layered over field recordings of wind and water they had captured across the spring semester, with hand drum from Nick Rink. Von Till recorded, assembled and mixed it; Scott Evans mastered it at Antisleep Audio.
What made it work, by the organisation's account, was how Von Till showed up. He built a patient, completely nonjudgmental room where nobody had to be good enough first. Some students had played before; others had never thought of themselves as musicians at all. The invitation was to listen, try something, make some noise and see what happened — no virtuosity expected, no pressure to perform.
That is the Heavy Music Symposium's whole argument in miniature. Music dismissed as dark, aggressive or strange can be an extraordinarily meaningful point of connection for young people who feel misunderstood or outside the mainstream. Heavy music makes room for difficult emotions without demanding they be hidden, and turns isolation into shared experience. The programme has since spread into recording, filmmaking, live production, journalism, festival internships and visual art.
"It became a towering example of what we believe in: giving young people access to meaningful creative experiences, building relationships through art, and creating spaces where expression, identity, and human connection can all exist simultaneously," the collective said. They call it the first of many planned collaborations between the Noise Collective and artists they admire.
The track is name-your-price on Bandcamp, and every cent raised goes toward new gear for the after-school club. A video by @deaddoglake is on the Firekeeper YouTube channel.
"And to all our relatives we've lost far too soon… We love you. All of this is for you."
Guitar drones: Dyrelle Bird, Auctavian "Doc" Bullshoe-Renya, Gabriel Calf Boss Ribs, Hunter DeRoche, DeAndre DeRoche, Dylan FastBuffaloHorse, Bethlanee Fish, Easton Glaze, Mason Gordon, Michael Gray, Alex Hoops, Aurelia Kennedy, John Thomas Kicking Woman, Bowman Klauk, Paul Medicine Horse, Joylynn NoRunner, Reb Pollock, Monique Rivas, Raymond Running Crane and Jacob Small.
Words: DeAndre DeRoche, Dylan FastBuffaloHorse, Haven Heavyrunner, Auctavian Bullshoe-Reyna, Ryan RedHorn, John Thomas Kicking Woman, Alexis Marso, Kaydence Smith, Cam Wolftail, Mallory Kennedy and Angalina Lee. Blackfoot words and phrases: Rance Champ, Clementine Hall and imiitāisskii.
Download "iiyiikǎakimǎan" at Firekeeper Alliance Records' Bandcamp. More on the organisation at firekeeperalliance.org.
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