Biography
Bizhiki formed as a Wisconsin-based collective that fuses powwow singing and hand drumming rooted in Native American traditions with elements of electronic indie and avant-garde pop. The project revolves around a core trio consisting of Ojibwe vocalists Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings and Joe Rainey alongside Bon Iver’s Sean Carey. Their first full-length effort, the genre-blurring album Unbound, appeared on Jagjaguwar in 2024.
An invitation extended to Bizhikiins Jennings for a 2015 appearance at the Eau Claire Festival—staged on ancestral Ojibwe territory—sparked the endeavor, which later expanded to encompass Minneapolis-based tribal singer Rainey and multi-instrumentalist Carey, also known as S. Carey of Bon Iver. Both Bizhikiins Jennings, affiliated with the Lac Du Flambeau and Lac Courte Oreilles reservations, and Rainey, of Red Lake Ojibwe heritage, absorbed powwow practices from their respective Upper Midwestern tribal backgrounds and integrate those longstanding vocal approaches into the group’s modern experimental sound on the debut recording. Written and tracked almost entirely within Wisconsin through collective effort, Unbound incorporates contributions from Low’s Steve Garrington on bass, guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker, keyboardist Ben Lester, and fellow Bon Iver members Mike Lewis on saxophone plus Justin Vernon supplying vocals. Jagjaguwar issued the album in July 2024.
An invitation extended to Bizhikiins Jennings for a 2015 appearance at the Eau Claire Festival—staged on ancestral Ojibwe territory—sparked the endeavor, which later expanded to encompass Minneapolis-based tribal singer Rainey and multi-instrumentalist Carey, also known as S. Carey of Bon Iver. Both Bizhikiins Jennings, affiliated with the Lac Du Flambeau and Lac Courte Oreilles reservations, and Rainey, of Red Lake Ojibwe heritage, absorbed powwow practices from their respective Upper Midwestern tribal backgrounds and integrate those longstanding vocal approaches into the group’s modern experimental sound on the debut recording. Written and tracked almost entirely within Wisconsin through collective effort, Unbound incorporates contributions from Low’s Steve Garrington on bass, guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker, keyboardist Ben Lester, and fellow Bon Iver members Mike Lewis on saxophone plus Justin Vernon supplying vocals. Jagjaguwar issued the album in July 2024.
Albums