Austin City Limits has opened its arms to an innumerable amount of talented musicians throughout the years. Last week, Sylvan Esso was added to that roster, and this weekend will see another worthy artist playing that iconic stage: The Weather Station. Today, we get a sneak peek at the episode, which also features Allison Russell, that's airing October 22 on PBS.
In this section of their performance, The Weather Station perform "Robber" from 2021's Ignorance. The single was the first track to be shared from the acclaimed album, and it grapples with Canada's colonial past and present. Alongside a thorny saxophone, frontperson Tamara Lindeman gives a thoughtful performance. The sax whimpers at one moment while Lindeman is crouching on her knees, touching her chest, repeating the lyric: "I never believed in the robber / No, I never believed in the robber."
"It’s a very strange thing to be the recipient of something that’s stolen, which is what it means to be a non-Indigenous Canadian," Lindeman said about the track. "We’re all trying to grapple with the question of: What does it mean to even be here at all? We’re the beneficiaries of this long-ago genocide, essentially. I think Canadians in general and people all over the world are sort of waking up to our history—so to sing ‘I never believed in the robber’ sort of feels like how we all were taught not to see certain things."
Check out the performance below, and tune in to Austin City Limits this Saturday for the full episode.
