From a young age onwards, Joe Rainey was an astute pupil of Pow Wow music, recording and bootlegging influential Pow Wow groups on tape so he could absorb their rhythmic and melodic qualities. With his debut album Niineta (2022), he now demonstrates his own command of the Pow Wow style, descending from Indigenous singing heard across the waters of what is now called Minnesota. His musical project is one of channelling and echoing – orchestrating and recontextualizing the ancient Pow Wow song forms in exciting and new in-between places.

Collaborating with producer and artist Andrew Broder, who brought his multi-instrumentalist, turntablist sensibility to the project, Rainey has crafted a distinct take on this traditional music with bombastic, occasionally dark, and menacing electronics. Combined with soaring strings, the music on Niineta attains a transcendental and cinematic quality. Rewire has invited Rainey, Broder, and Netherlands-based string players Alistair Sung, Isa Goldschmeding, Jellantsje de Vries, and Thora Sveinsdóttir for a residency in The Hague to translate Niineta into a live show with strings.

Joe Rainey & String Quartet perform on Sunday 9 April.