- Music
- 23 Jul 21
Aaron Dessner described their latest single, 'Phoenix,' as what he "always imagined Big Red Machine would sound like."
American indie folk band Big Red Machine have released their latest single, 'Phoenix.' The band, comprised of musicians Aaron Dessner of the National and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, collaborated with Fleet Foxes and Anaïs Mitchell to create the newest single from their forthcoming album, How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?
In a series of tweets, Dessner explained how he thought of The Band and the Grateful Dead while writing 'Phoenix.'
"Justin first heard ['The Last Waltz'] while driving and immediately the chorus melody came into his head," Dessner wrote. "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."
On Instagram, Fleet Foxes vocalist Robin Pecknold said: "Endless thanks to Aaron Dessner for graciously inviting me into this great song and inspiring project. It was a high, high honor to finally sing with both Justin Vernon (such a generational talent and a North Star for so many of us) and the wonderful Anais Mitchell."
Pecknold also thanked Jarvis Taveniere and the Westerlies before saying, "I felt like a pilgrim carrying questions to the sage, not needing clear answers, but glad for the chance to ask."
Advertisement
Big Red Machine have released the track list to their upcoming album, which is set to be released August 27. Two of the songs on the album, 'Latter Days' featuring Anaïs Mitchell and 'Renegade' featuring Taylor Swift, have already been released as singles.
Check out the album's track listing and 'Phoenix' lyric video below:
- Latter Days (feat. Anaïs Mitchell)
- Reese
- Phoenix (feat. Fleet Foxes and Anaïs Mitchell)
- Birch (feat. Taylor Swift)
- Renegade (feat. Taylor Swift)
- The Ghost of Cincinnati
- Hoping Then
- Mimi (feat. Ilsey)
- Easy To Sabotage (feat. Naeem)
- Hutch (feat. Sharon Van Etten, Lisa Hannigan, and Shara Nova [My Brightest Diamond])
- 8:22AM (feat. La Force)
- Magnolia
- June's A River (feat. Ben Howard and This Is the Kit)
- Brycie
- New Auburn (feat. Anaïs Mitchell)