Unbound, the debut album from Bizhiki, brings together a trio of talented musicians with some high-profile guests to create one of the most immersive, compelling, and wide-ranging albums you’ll hear in 2024. The group, comprised of Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings, Joe Rainey Sr., and S. Carey, have done terrific work on their own; seriously, if you haven’t listened to Rainey’s 2022 album Niineta, you’re in for a treat. I talked with with Bizhikiins Jennings about the making of Unbound and the challenges of collaboration.

How did you first begin working with your bandmates? At what point did this go from a collaboration to an ongoing musical project?

Joey and I have known each other for a long time. We are also adopted brothers — so we’ve been singing together for a long time now. We’ve been collaborating with Sean for years and spent many hours in the studio making music. It wasn’t until a couple years ago that Sean and our brother Brian put it in our heads that there was more than enough recorded material to make a record.

In a group like this with three distinct songwriters, what does the collaborative process look like?

We each just have mad respect for one another and when someone had an idea or concept we all just did what we could to contribute and/or support it. We were definitely vibing on the same energies in the studio.

You’re also in the process of getting a PhD., and your bandmates have active musical projects as well. How do the three of you balance out the time for this project and your other work?

We all have a buncha kids too so we definitely try to work with each others’ schedules. The music has been a form of therapy and healing for myself so I know it hasn’t been tough to make the time for this project.

The songs on Unbound cover a lot of stylistic ground. Do you have a sense of what is and is not “in bounds” for a Bizhiki song?

I haven’t seen our style of singing and vocables utilized in some of these ways so a lot of what we did was intentional exploration. I think the title Unbound summarizes what you can expect — our voices can traverse many different song styles.

What does the group’s live setup look like?

We have a full band setup with 5-6 of us ready to jam and bring energy.

Mike Sullivan and Justin Vernon can also be heard on Unbound; do you see Bizhiki as a trio, or could the formal lineup end up expanding for future records?

For now it’s the 3 of us, but I think we always leave the doors open for collaboration. We initially didn’t know this would be a record so to even be in this space is crazy.

Photo: Graham Tolbert

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