The second Big Red Machine album has been released today by Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon on New Music Friday – have a listen on Live4ever via Spotify.
Collaborations are the dominant feature of Big Red Machine’s How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?, the tracklist including two with Taylor Swift and three appearance from Anaïs Mitchell; one of which comes on Phoenix which also features Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold.
“Justin first heard it while driving and immediately the chorus melody came into his head,” Aaron Dessner has said of that track. “I shared the sketch with Robin Pecknold, who I’ve been a fan of forever and who I’d been dreaming would join us on this record.”
“Robin wrote the verses and pre-chorus as a kind of dialogue with Justin, recalling a conversation they once had backstage in Phoenix. Later Anais wrote words to the chorus and the Westerlies added their magic to the instrumental.”