Saskatoon's The North Sound: Making Space for Story

Words and photo by Scott Roos

When Forrest Eaglespeaker talks about music, he talks about space—emotional space, physical space, the kind of breathing room that allows a story to unfold honestly. It’s an idea that runs quietly but persistently through The North Sound’s work, from early releases to As the Stars Explode and now into their latest chapter with What It Takes. It’s also an idea that feels unmistakably rooted in where the music comes from.

“I’ve always loved the music that comes out of these lands,” Forrest says. “What I always find that’s present in these Canadian records is the vast amount of space that seems to be in the songs. I think it’s reflective of what we’ve all sort of grown up around—we don’t grow up in congestion.”

That sense of openness—geographic, emotional, and creative—has come to define The North Sound, the Saskatoon-based duo led by Forrest Eaglespeaker, a Blackfoot singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, and his longtime partner Nevada Eaglespeaker. Their music blends elements of country, folk, roots, and Americana, but the throughline has always been story: lived experience rendered with clarity, patience, and care.

While As the Stars Explode earned national attention and cemented the band’s place within the Indigenous and Canadian music landscape, What It Takes marks a deeper shift—one that reflects not just musical evolution, but a reimagining of how the band itself functions.

“It was definitely more collaborative,” Forrest says of the newer record. “At the time of As the Stars Explode, we had just sort of decided that we were going to be a duo—kind of during the making of that record.”

Nevada laughs, adding, “Instead of me kind of just popping in to record on a song here and there.”

The difference, they explain, wasn’t about proximity - after all, they’ve been together since high school - but about intention. Touring extensively between releases gave them the time and perspective to really understand how they work together as artists.

“We’ve had four years to tour and really figure out our sound,” Forrest says. “It was almost like forming a new relationship in that way - figuring out how we actually create together.”

Traditionally, Forrest would arrive with the bones of a song: structure, lyrics, melody. Nevada's role was editorial—refining language, clarifying narrative, sharpening intent.

“Nevada has a really good eye and a good ear for when lyrics are sort of dancing around the point a little bit,” Forrest says. “I can sometimes be a little more abstract than I’m intending to be.”

Nevada frames it more practically. “It’s usually like, ‘I know what you’re trying to say, but it needs to be said a little more clearly.’”

That dynamic shifted notably on What It Takes, particularly with the song “Till the Love Runs Out,” which marked the first time they truly started a song together from scratch.

“Forrest sat down and started playing something, and I just heard a song in my head immediately,” Nevada says. “That’s not 100 percent natural for me - I’m a visual artist first. Music registers visually for me before it does sonically.”

What followed, she admits, was a bit forceful - but transformative. “I basically said, ‘This song is going to go this way, or it’s not going to go down.’ And honestly, it was the best collaborative experience we’ve had writing together.”

That experience has become a blueprint going forward. “Things are already going like that,” Nevada says. “We’ve lived a bunch more years of experience together. We have more things to say.”

Forrest agrees, noting that future songs are increasingly written with shared vocal space in mind. “One of my dreams for The North Sound was to have songs that feature Nevada on lead vocals, and songs written very intentionally as duets - trading verses, sharing choruses.”

Their creative “North Star,” as Forrest calls it, is Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris.

“Anything Emmylou is attached to, we gravitate to it,” he says. “We listen to it until we’re sick of it.”

Genre, for The North Sound, remains fluid and often externally defined. Forrest is acutely aware of how differently music can be perceived once it leaves the artist’s hands.

“People might hear As the Stars Explode as intentionally country and What It Takes as more folk or roots,” he says. “In my mind, As the Stars Explode is more pop-oriented, and What It Takes is more of a folk-y singer-songwriter record.”

Ultimately, he’s made peace with that disconnect. “What I’m intending to do is probably not what’s going to be heard in the world and that’s 100 percent okay.”

What remains consistent is the commitment to story. That’s perhaps most evident in “Wash Me Away,” a song Forrest wrote about his grandmother - a residential school survivor who found sobriety when he was born.

“She was a very lost and hurt and damaged person for a long time,” he says. “The grandmother I had was not the mother my mom had. They were almost two different people.”

Though deeply spiritual, she wasn’t religious in a conventional sense. “The institution of religion kind of made her sick,” Forrest says. “But her philosophy was: whatever helps you get out of bed and makes you want to be a better person, believe in that.”

That teaching resurfaced during Forrest’s own recovery. “When I needed to find something bigger than myself and bigger than a bottle, I remembered what she gave me.”

The result is a song that feels spiritual without condemnation. “It’s rooted in love and care,” he says. “Regardless of where you came from or what you’ve done, there’s always a chance for redemption.”

That emotional honesty is what gives The North Sound’s music its distinctly Canadian qualitywhich is something Forrest sees as inseparable from place. “Our songs are rooted in story,” he says. “Whether or not it’s particularly interesting to others doesn’t matter. We’ll make it sound interesting. We’ll make it sound pretty. We’ll make it relatable.”

As the band prepares for a series of anniversary shows celebrating As the Stars Explode, that sense of reflection comes full circle. The record, which turns five this year, never received a full tour due to the pandemic.

“We’re playing two sets each night,” Forrest explains. “The first set is As the Stars Explode, tracked live. We want to put out a five-year anniversary live version.”

The second set looks forward rather than back: songs from What It Takes, covers integrated into their live show, and unreleased material shaped by years on the road.

“We never really got to give As the Stars Explode a proper tour,” Forrest says. “Now we get to play it alongside who we are today.”

For a band that values space, story, and growth, it feels like the right moment - honouring where they’ve been while making room for what comes next.