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Post by Admin on Jul 19, 2021 22:16:24 GMT
Big Red Machine, the tandem of Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon, hits the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time, as "Renegade," featuring Taylor Swift, debuts at No. 73 on the July 17-dated list.
The song earned 4.1 million U.S. streams and 3.9 million radio airplay audience impressions and sold 9,000 downloads in its opening week, ending July 8, according to MRC Data, following its July 2 release.
Among other chart moves for the song, it launches at No. 1 on Alternative Digital Song Sales and No. 8 on the all-format Digital Song Sales chart, as well as No. 7 on Hot Alternative Songs and No. 9 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, both of which employ the same methodology as the Hot 100.
The track, which concurrently ranks at No. 24 on Adult Pop Airplay, marks the first charted single for Big Red Machine, which made radio inroads last year with "No Time for Love Like Now," with Michael Stipe. That standalone single followed the act's self-titled 2018 LP, which hit No. 8 on Americana/Folk Albums.
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Post by Admin on Sept 7, 2021 20:13:25 GMT
When Aaron Dessner sat down to create ‘How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?’, the second album from Big Red Machine – his indie-rock project with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon – he started to ask himself some big questions. Fresh from releasing their self-titled debut in 2018, the pair were enjoying playing their first collection of songs live. Dessner, who’s also a founding member of The National, explains to NME that these fluid tunes – filled with expansive soundscapes and sweeping production – were built around “structured improvisation”, but when the time came for album number two, his mindset changed. “I started to feel like I wanted to actually think about it, and try to write songs that were specific to Big Red Machine and figure out: what is Big Red Machine?” So, what conclusion did he draw? “It’s almost like Big Red Machine is a laboratory for me to try ideas, work with people I wouldn’t have been able to before and experiment with my recording [and] with my songwriting,” he explains, speaking to NME over Zoom from a hotel lobby on the Italian coast, where he’s celebrating his sister’s wedding anniversary. “Obviously it is a primary outlet for me as a songwriter, in addition to The National. There’s a part of my brain that is very collaborative and my approach to music is very collaborative.” Collaboration is a key part of the Big Red Machine ethos, harking right back to the group’s origins. The earliest foundations of the project date back to 2008, when Dessner reached out to Vernon – who he hadn’t met in person at the time – to collaborate. At that point, Dessner was producing a charity compilation record called ‘Dark Was the Night’ alongside his twin brother (and fellow The National member) Bryce. As part of the album, he sent Vernon an early draft of a song titled ‘Big Red Machine’, which Vernon then finished, giving the song what Dessner calls its “beating heart”. The two finally met when they performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York for a show in aid of ‘Dark Was the Night’ in 2009. Of their blossoming professional and personal relationship, Dessner says: “It was just a very easy, natural friendship and we had a lot of mutual interests and inspiration”. Since then, they’ve worked together both musically (Bon Iver’s fourth record ‘i, i’ boasts contributions from Dessner, while Vernon has worked on multiple albums by The National), and on events like the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival in Wisconsin – an occasion where Big Red Machine was “reborn”. “We decided the first year [of Eaux Claires] to perform the song [‘Big Red Machine’] as an installation almost,” Dessner remembers. “We got up with no plan, I had made this electronic version of it and then we improvised for an hour and we had such a good time, and there would be songs coming out – that made us realise we should do more of that. So we did, and we kept doing it and eventually, there was enough there for an album, which is the first Big Red Machine album.” Last week saw their second offering ‘How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?’ join Dessner and Vernon’s collective canon. The record is a striking next chapter in the Big Red Machine journey. Spanning 15 tracks and assisted by a bevvy of guest vocalists (including Taylor Swift, Sharon Van Etten, Fleet Foxes and Ben Howard), Dessner and Vernon’s natural songwriting chemistry shines brightly, enveloped in lush instrumentals and glitchy production. Despite the host of collaborators, there’s a cohesiveness to the record, as Dessner explains: “The music binds it all together, and it’s almost like chapters of a book with different characters that are all singing, all interrelated.”
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Post by Admin on Sept 7, 2021 22:51:02 GMT
Another key figure in the album sounding the way it does now, or getting finished at all, was Swift. Alongside working on the Big Red Machine release, Dessner also spent time during the pandemic working on her game-changing lockdown records ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’ (picking up the Grammy for Album of the Year for his contributions to the former), turning him from an indie darling into an in-demand producer.
“Big Red Machine is a laboratory for me to try ideas” – Aaron Dessner
When he did return to Big Red Machine, his blossoming creative relationship with Swift meant there was no question that she would show up on the album (she sings on ‘Birch’ and leads the driving single ‘Renegade’). As well as pushing Dessner out of his comfort zone to find new epiphanies on the album, she’s also responsible for its title.
“I didn’t have a strong idea at the time because I was so focused on finishing the song,” he explains. It was Swift, then, who suggested ‘How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?’, “because so many of the songs refer to themes connected to that question – a childhood, a pandemic, a family, a marriage, a friendship, a winning streak, a losing streak… it covers so many things that feel connected. That was one of those moments where I was like, ‘Ah thank God for you naming it because you just crystallised what it’s about in my mind’.”
Over the past decade, Swift has proven herself a musical pioneer, her distinctive songwriting and genre reinventions inspiring pop heavyweights like Halsey, Olivia Rodrigo and Griff, and indie favourites like Shamir, Hayley Williams and Soccer Mommy.
“I learned a lot from Taylor because she’s so talented, so hardworking and so sharp in her ideas, storytelling and sense of melody and rhythm,” says Dessner of his time working with Swift. “The way she’d respond to music I was making was often leaving me flabbergasted. She can carve into something in such a powerful, beautiful, incisive way that it does kind of give you… her approach to songwriting structurally, you just can’t help but be influenced by it because it’s so masterful.”
The finished ‘How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?’ is honest and open, tackling childhood and loss of innocence, mental health, and grief. ‘Brycie’ is a tribute to Dessner’s twin brother who he explains “held me up when I was a teenager [and] I struggled with fairly serious depression and he refused to let me sink or fall behind”. On it, its moving words are spun over lilting twinkles of acoustic guitar and skittering production.
‘Latter Days’, which American singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell wrote the lyrics for and lends her vocals to, is simultaneously about “childhood and looking back before a time before you lost your innocence,” while also referring to the pandemic (which was just starting when she wrote it). Elsewhere, the incredibly moving ‘Magnolia’ depicts fracturing, toxic relationships, with Dessner singing: “Did you accept / He’s a demon? / Did you regret? / Did you leave him?” over urgent instrumentals.
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Post by Admin on Sept 8, 2021 23:17:37 GMT
Taylor Swift's songwriting abilities can leave even a professional wordsmith speechless — at least, according to Aaron Dessner, who said the pair's recent collaborations left him "flabbergasted."
Dessner teamed up with Swift for her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, and last month, she returned the favor by hopping on two tracks for his latest Big Red Machine album with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon.
"I learn a lot from Taylor because she's so talented, so hardworking and so sharp in her ideas, storytelling and sense of melody and rhythm," Dessner, who rose to fame as a founding member of The National, told NME.
"The way she'd respond to music I was making was often leaving me flabbergasted," he added. "She can carve into something in such a powerful, beautiful, incisive way that it does kind of give you… her approach to songwriting structurally, you just can't help but be influenced by it because it's so masterful."
The "Cardigan" singer, 31, delighted fans by contributing vocals to the duo's songs "Birch" and "Renegade," the latter of which she also co-wrote on the new album How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?
Dessner, meanwhile, co-produced and helped Swift write both Folklore and Evermore, and sang with the star on "Coney Island." Together, they won the Grammy award for album of the year for Folklore.
The collaborations came about when the coronavirus pandemic hit, as Swift explained that she began to pick Dessner's brain on The National's songwriting process.
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Post by Admin on Sept 24, 2021 5:23:46 GMT
Big Red Machine - Magnolia (Official Lyric Video)
Big Red Machine - “Magnolia” from “How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?”
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