Big Red Machine – “Mimi” (Feat. Ilsey)
Later this month, Big Red Machine, the superstar duo of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and the National’s Aaron Dessner, will release their sophomore album How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? The longtime collaborators brought in a whole bunch of friends to help out, including Taylor Swift, who’s recently worked with both Vernon and Dessner and who shows up on two songs. We’ve already posted the Swift collab “Renegade,” as well as “Latter Days” with Anaïs Mitchell, “Phoenix” with Mitchell and Fleet Foxes, and “The Ghost Of Cincinnati.” Today, Big Red Machine have dropped another early single on us.
Vernon and Dessner’s latest track is called “Mimi,” and it features Ilsey Juber, a singer and songwriter who’s known professionally as Ilsey and who’s helped craft songs for people like Panic! At The Disco, Major Lazer, Beyoncé, Shawn Mendes, and Lykki Li. Vernon and Dessner co-wrote the song with Ilsey, and they all sing it together. Aaron’s brother Bryce Dessner plays guitar, and it’s also got Big Thief’s James Krivchenia on drums, Thomas “Doveman” Bartlett on piano and synth, and Beirut’s Ben Lanz on modular synth. Big names everywhere!
“Mimi” isn’t the sort of song that jumps out at you. It’s a soft, low-key track in a tricky time signature, and it finds Justin Vernon really giving his falsetto a workout. Dessner and Vernon love to intricately layer sounds, and they really pile up the voices on this one. Check it out below.
How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? is out 8/27 on Jagjaguwar/37d03d. Pre-order it here.