Yohuna is releasing her sophomore album, Mirroring, in a couple of months — we talked to Johanne Swanson about it back when its title track came out in February — and today she’s sharing its second single, “Rain & Prairie Snow,” which features backing vocals from Emily Yacina. It’s a gorgeous track, building into a dense cloud of synths and guitars. It uses the totality of nature to get at how both overwhelming and fleeting the connections we make with each other are. “Fall back and watch you grow/ You’re a flower, perennial/ I’ll come and go/ I am rain and prairie snow,” Swanson and Yacina duet on the chorus.

“This was the first song written for this collection,” Swanson says. “I didn’t know if I’d ever use it, because it struck me as such a traditional folk song — the chord progression and pastoral lyrics. But when I started playing along to an old Univox drum machine, it shifted and came to life. Some of my favorite moments on the record are here, when the drums come in playing the same beat as the drum machine, and then Emily Yacina’s vocals on the choruses.”

The track comes along with a video, directed by Foxes In Fiction’s Warren Hildebrand, that was shot in their apartment where the album was recorded. It utilizes some leftover shots from her “Golden Foil” video. Hildebrand explains:

From the first time I heard “Rain & Prairie Snow” I felt a big connection to it so I was really thrilled when Johanne gave me the opportunity to direct my first-ever music video for it. My friend Austin Johnson and I shot the video in my and Johanne’s living room in an afternoon using a projector and a fold-out screen overlaid with video footage that I shot and b-roll from the Golden Foil video that Michael Caridi made. I then overlaid those shots with more footage that I’d been collecting over the past couple years using iMovie. It’s a simple concept but I liked the idea of making something in a single setting with lots of movement, impressionist shapes vibrant colours and a focus on Johanne’s performance and letting cool accidents happen in the editing process in an almost aleatoric way.

Watch and listen below.

TOUR DATES:
04/05 Brooklyn, NY @ Park Church Co@Op Brooklyn (w/ Spencer Radcliffe, Skirts, Wished Bone)
05/12 New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa *
05/14 Tampa, FL @ Crowbar *
05/15 Orlando, FL @ Soundbar *
05/16 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade Hell *
05/17 Asheville, NC @ The Mothlight *
05/18 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 *
05/20 Richmond, VA @ Canal Club *
05/21 Washington D.C. @ Rock and Roll Hotel *
05/23 Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Hall *
05/24 Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle *
05/25 Boston, MA @ Sonia *
* w/ TV Girl

Mirroring is out 6/7 via Orchid Tapes (US) / Fear Of Missing Out Records (UK). Pre-order it here.