JOE RAINEY - Niineta

Joe Rainey is a Pow Wow singer. On his debut album
Niineta he demonstrates his command of the Pow Wow
style, descending from Indigenous singing that's been
heard across the waters of what is now called Minnesota
for centuries. Depending on the song, his voice can
celebrate or console, welcome or intimidate, wake you up
or lull your babies to sleep. Each note conveys a clear
message, no matter the inflection: We're still here. We were
here before you were, and we never left.
On Niineta, Rainey finds himself in between cultures again,
collaborating with producer Andrew Broder, who brought
his turntablist sensibility to the project. The two of them
met backstage at Justin Vernon's hometown Eaux Claires
music festival before crossing paths more through the
37d03d collective, and both contributed to the last Bon
Iver album before partnering up. "At first I didn't know
what I could add," Broder says. "I came to understand
everything is rooted in the drum-even the songs on our
record that have no drum." Each song started with
Broder's beats, the two of them experimenting with
various sounds and tempos before orchestrating and
recontextualizing the ancient sounds in strange, new inbetween places, also pulling from Rainey's vast sample
folder of pow wow recordings, layering in slices of his life.

Vinyl release of Joe Rainey - Niineta. Released through 37d03d and available on LP.