Sharon Van Etten’s career since the release of her second album, 2010’s epic is well-known; critically lauded albums, films, and television shows have continually displayed her expanding artistry. Upon its release, epic laid a romantic melancholy over the gravel and dirt of heartbreak without one honest thought or feeling spared. Her songs covered betrayal, obsession, egotism, and all the other emotions we dislike in others and recognize in ourselves. Van Etten’s grounded and clenched vocals conveyed a sense of hope–the notion that beauty can arise from the worst of circumstances.
The resulting epic Ten is a double LP featuring the original album plus the new album of epic covers and reimagined artwork.
“Epic” laid a romantic melancholy over the gravel and dirt of heartbreak without one honest thought or feeling spared. Her songs covered betrayal, obsession, egotism, and all the other emotions we dislike in others and recognize in ourselves. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of this special album’s release, and to acknowledge the convergence of Van Etten’s present and past work, she asked fellow artists she admired to participate in an expanded reissue, where each artist would cover one different song from epic in their own style.
“Collections From The Whiteout” is a big return from our fellow South Westerner, Ben Howard. Produced alongside Aaron Dessner, it’s a very different beast to his earlier work. His voice and songs are part of something broader instead of being the main event. Dense, pretty and sonically interesting.
Produced alongside Aaron Dessner (The National, Sharon Van Etten, Taylor Swift), Collections From The Whiteout heralds the first time Ben has opened the door to production outside of he and his bands closer confines.The foreboding darkness that coated Ben’s second record I Forget Where We Were and thinly veiled its follow up Noonday Dream, isn’t so evident on Collections.. These are songs written from headlines scanned, or news stories scrolled past. Ben has taken those snippets and let his curiosity take control, creating an aural scrapbook that reverberates with tape loops and guitar FXs.
Ben Howard has shared his latest single “Sorry Kid” from his forthcoming album. “Sorry Kid” joins previously released tracks “What A Day,” “Follies Fixture,” “Crowhurst’s Meme” and “Far Out” as the final preview of the album Howard has offered to fans ahead of its release. Like “Crowhurst’s Meme,” “Sorry Kid” was inspired by an elaborate and interesting true story. The song is loosely built around the narrative of Anna Sorokin. The German woman, born in Russia, is best known for her stint posing as a billionaire heiress under the moniker Anna Delvey. Sorokin was later convicted for numerous counts of fraud-related crimes in America. Take the cash and all the jewels,” Howard sings over the song’s punching beat. “The world was made for only you.”
The door was also left open to some new players too. Yussef Dayes, one of the UK’s most innovative young drummer/producer’ especially in the field of jazz features, as does Kate Stables from This Is The Kit, James Krivchenia from Big Thief, Kyle Keegan from Hiss Golden Messenger, and the aforementioned Aaron Dessner lent his hand too where needed. Long-term guitarist to Ben’s band, Mickey Smith, remains a reassuring presence. Rob Moose, a long-standing arranger of strings for Bon Iver and a collaborator to Laura Marling, Blake Mills, and Phoebe Bridgers is also present, peppering the mix.
The Devon singer-songwriter is said to have based a number of songs on the “Collections From The Whiteout” around stories he came across in the news while taking creative liberties to expand and explore the worlds within those narratives. Through the creation of new characters and details in his lyricism, the British musician adds a fresh perspective to moments in history.
“Shunning the faux authenticity of many of his bigger-selling pop contemporaries, Ben Howard has spent a decade pursuing music that blends a legitimate passion for folk tradition with inventive sonic flavors,”
+ Indie exclusive is pressed on transparent vinyl housed in gatefold + plain unprinted bag + SOV download code + standard gloss dispersion.
The album, which arrives on March 26th, also features the previously released tracks ‘What A Day’ and ‘Crowhurst’s Meme.’ Ben Howard Music Limited, under exclusive licence to Island Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Ltd.
Produced alongside Aaron Dessner (The National, Sharon Van Etten, Taylor Swift), “Collections From The Whiteout” heralds the first time Ben Howard has opened the door to production outside of he and his bands closer confines. ‘Collections From The Whiteout’ marks the London BRIT Award winner’s fourth full-length and is scheduled to arrive on March 26th via Island Records.
The foreboding darkness that coated Ben’s second record I Forget Where We Were and thinly veiled its follow up Noonday Dream, isn’t so evident on Collections.. These are songs written from headlines scanned, or news stories scrolled past. Ben has taken those snippets and let his curiosity take control, creating an aural scrapbook that reverberates with tape loops and guitar FXs.
There are sounds akin to Brian Eno, Durutti Column and Steve Reich in there, but also Neil Young and Townes Van Zandt. It’s a million miles away from Ben’s multi-platinum selling debut, but a path plotted from Ben’s then to his now isn’t so far removed.
The door was also left open to some new players too. Yussef Dayes, one of the UK’s most innovative young drummer/producer’ especially in the field of jazz features, as does Kate Stables from This Is The Kit, James Krivchenia from Big Thief, Kyle Keegan from Hiss Golden Messenger, and the aforementioned Aaron Dessner lent his hand too where needed. Long-term guitarist to Ben’s band, Mickey Smith, remains a reassuring presence. Rob Moose, a long-standing arranger of strings for Bon Iver and a collaborator to Laura Marling, Blake Mills, and Phoebe Bridgers is also present, peppering the mix.
Ben Howard has announced his fourth studio album will be available on Limited Edition Transparent Double Vinyl, Ben Howard – “What A Day” – from ‘Collections From The Whiteout’ New album out 26th March,
Hannah Georgas has released a new version of one of her standout album tracks, ‘Pray It Away’. With her album ‘All That Emotion’ produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner, this new cut sees her team up with his bandmate Matt Berninger, who adds some lush vocals and a new depth to the song. “When Aaron and I were recording the album, we were working on ‘Pray It Away’ and he mentioned that it would be really great to have a male counterpart in the song. He said it would sound really nice and Matt’s name came up. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s really cool!’ We didn’t really act on it but when we were working on the record, Aaron asked if I’d be interested in opening some shows for The National and I ended up singing in their band.
“From that, I got to know Matt a little more. Some time after that, we reached out to Matt and asked if he’d be interested in trying to sing on it. He was up for it but then the pandemic hit, so everything was put on pause. He ended up going into the studio when things felt safe to do so and we finally made it happen.” “The song is about feeling dismissed for who you are and feeling like you are not accepted, but I feel like Matt brings this huge comfort to the song. It’s like two people thinking about praying it away but can’t: ‘I can’t pray it away’. He adds this comforting element to something quite difficult; it’s two people singing about the same thing and [uniting] in that. I really loved The National’s music and have such a lot of respect for them.
I hope this song brings comfort to those who have felt they have been dismissed for who they truly are. We’re living in a world that feels divided and it’s so important that we support each other, lift each other up and celebrate our differences.
Pray It Away by Hannah Georgas feat. Matt BerningerBeetle Bomb Music under exclusive license to Arts & Crafts / Brassland.
“No Time For Love Like Now” is the first song from Big Red Machine since the release of their critically acclaimed self-titled debut in 2018. Big Red Machine began as a collaboration between Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon in 2008, and has grown into a multi-artist collective. When the group got together this year to begin working on new music, this particular song made a detour and ended up with Michael Stipe.
We’re so pleased to share this powerful new song from Michael Stipe & Big Red Machine, out now on 37d03d. The collaboration came about when Aaron Dessner shared a folder of new Big Red Machine music with Michael last year. No Time For Love Like Now was written last fall but when the reality of the COVID pandemic and social distancing and self-isolation descended the words felt like they were written about this time. The song features orchestration by Bryce Dessner, Justin Vernon, Brad Cook, JT Bates, Thomas Barlett, Clarice Jensen and Yuki Numata Resnick also perform on the track.
Michael Stipe & Big Red Machine have also designed a “No Time For Love Like Now” t-shirt and tote. All proceeds from the sales will go to the Equal Justice Initiative and COVID-19 Protest Relief Fund.
Written by Michael Stipe and Aaron Dessner, produced by Aaron Dessner, with Orchestration by Bryce Dessner, and lyrics by Michael Stipe
Hannah Georgas is back with a new track “Same Mistakes”, produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner. This is the second single from Georgas in 2020, and the second to be produced by Dessner, after March’s “That Emotion”.
Georgas says of the new offering, “Over the years I’ve been recognising patterns and habits I’ve created in order to protect myself in situations that are difficult. I’m becoming more aware of how much my upbringing has had an affect on me. This song was inspired by learning how to accept the past and recognise when things come up and trying to learn to from them.” It’s sweet, solemn and soulful confession from the stars, “Same Mistakes” is modern melancholia and the beaming brand-new single from Toronto’sHannah Georgas. The track was produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner, who also plays on it. Out care of Brassland, you can find streaming and download links for this right here, and it’s available from her Bandcamp page, too.
She adds of working with Dessner on the song, “Aaron and I tried a couple of versions of it before we found this one. I originally wrote it on guitar and I ended up finding a different arrangement for it on the piano. Towards the end of my time with Aaron, we re-recorded this – tracking piano and vocals first. He came up with a repetitive bass line and drum loop. He started playing these beautiful guitar slide parts that felt like whale calls. We were recording it in the evening and I remember listening and looking out the window and seeing a beautiful bright moon and clear dark sky. It was a really memorable and magical moment.”
Her forthcoming LP, is yet to be announced, will be her first since 2016’s For Evelyn. Hannah Georgas’ “Same Mistakes” single is out now.
High Violet is one of those albums that exists as both a showcase of new music and an event. For The National, High Violet represented some sort of promise fulfilled. Just a year after Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest, Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, and Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca, the National became another indie act made good. Brooklyn was booming, and the band consisting of a wine-guzzling midwestern Leonard Cohen, two brothers plucked from guitar-nerd heaven, and two more brothers using the Grateful Dead and good vibes as the chief inspiration for the rhythm section, somehow became one of the most captivating acts in the nation.
Like seemingly every National record, High Violet begins with an absolute bang. “Terrible Love” is an all-time album opener, and perhaps the best song the National have recorded to date. Singer Matt Berninger begins with his vision blurred and words slurred, acting out the destructive tendencies he describes. His voice moves between self-contained characters at a moment’s notice, at one point almost too zonked to speak and the next completely raspy from pleading for understanding. It’s a performance, a method acting masterclass in character-based songwriting. Early National albums like Boxer and Alligator before it moved from quiet to loud and clean to messy. Here, on “Terrible Love,” the band throws away this rulebook, with the Dessner brothers fuzzing up their guitars from the outset as the Devendorfs use the rhythm section to slowly pull the song toward its thrilling apex.
The next few tracks on the album do more to establish tone and aesthetics than shine through in their own right, as “Sorrow” builds off of trembling acoustic guitars and a cleaner baritone from Berninger. The drums are nearly echoless, bright in tone and simple in composition. “Little Faith” scurries in panic, with sirens for guitars blaring above melodic and stagnant synthesizers. Bryan Devendorf shows off just how impressive of a drummer he is, giving the song its entire pace with just a few scattered ghost notes on his snare drum. Berninger’s desperation is palpable as he sings, “All our lonely kicks are getting harder to find / We’ll play nuns versus priests until somebody cries.” In the narcotized Upper Manhattan world that the National often watch and comment on, any emotion at all will suffice; even if it causes tears.
Afraid of Everyone” is the album’s second single after “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” and while the album’s second-half is a masterpiece in a way the first doesn’t quite reach, these two tracks are an apt thesis on the National’s changed approach for High Violet. Sufjan Stevens lends harmonies to the former, giving an ethereality to a band that’s so often rooted in a cold, broken reality. Berninger goes nearly breathless during the song’s finale, “Your voice has stolen my soul, soul, soul,” he sings, literally losing his voice as he does so ― a masterful showcase of descriptive vocal performance.
“Bloodbuzz” was released about two months before the album came out, and it’s a brilliant dividing point between the album’s two halves. Devendorf’s drums again steal the show, bouncing across the recording like a proton looking for its partner. The horns build with a quiet fury, and Berninger’s voice is more delicate here than on most of the record. The song is an emotional ode to the state that birthed the band, with lyrics from Berninger like, “I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees / I’ll never marry but Ohio don’t remember me.” Even when the images are nostalgic, they’re dipped in pain and regret: “I never thought about love when I thought about home.”
Berninger’s characters tend to always be running from things, and on High Violet his imagination doesn’t stop trying to escape, but perhaps these voices have grown comfortable with the practice. The album is a reconciliation of broken faith and half-hearted regret. There’s no point in letting pain linger if it doesn’t hurt that badly in the first place. The album’s back half begins with “Lemonworld,” an imagistic narrative from Berninger that’s more of a novel in verse than lyrics to a song. It’s spare and precise, with Berninger’s words cutting cleanly: “You and your sister live in a lemonworld / I want to sit in and die.” Among the layers and layers of theNational’s elegant and pain-stakingly assembled compositions lie Berninger’s lyrics, which deserve their own listen outside the context of the music. His storytelling is incredibly intoxicating and he’s able to conjure the emotions of the words he sings in a way I’ve never heard before. It’s poetry, plain and simple .“Runaway” is a slow-building triumph, stadium-ready in a way the National began to master throughout High Violet. The album’s closing run is flawless, with “Conversation 16,” “England,” and “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks” each succeeding in independently ecstatic ways. “Conversation 16” moves with the propulsion of a Hollywood thriller, while “England” is unabashedly anthemic, epically stirring without ever becoming corny. “Vanderlyle” is somber and mournful with hints of optimism, which is perhaps the only way to rightfully end a National album.The creation of the album was rumored to be an intense and volatile process, with the band spending days on certain details that nearly ripped the threads of the group’s foundation apart. It’s dramatic, but it also makes sense considering how thoroughly technical every detail of High Violet is. The band’s ability to stitch together a quilt and hide the seams betrays the work of masters, and it foreshadows a run of records that solidified the National as one of the most thrilling bands we’ve seen in a decade or more. Now, the group is more an entity than a band, with a festival and documentary populating album releases, but High Violet propelled them to this place. It was the last time The National were simply a band, before the world truly came calling. Prior to High Violet, they never had to answer.This edition of High Violet is about as deluxe as it comes; it’s on 3LP, comes with bonus tracks, and is housed in a triple gatefold sleeve. It’s the National album that broke them on the Billboard charts; the one that has arguably their most potent fist-pumper (“Bloodbuzz Ohio”) and it’s also the one that feels most underrated in their catalouge. Revisit 2010’s best indie rock album by getting this reissue, now. The National‘s 2010 album High Violet will be reissued as an expanded 10th anniversary 3LP coloured vinyl package in June.This includes unreleased tracks ‘You Were a Kindness’ and ‘Wake Up Your Saints’ as well as alternate versions, B-sides, and live recordings. The album proper is across the first two LPs, with the third reserved for the bonus tracks. As can be seen from the image above, this release is being pressed on stunning white/violet coloured vinyl mix. These are numbered and come with a foil-blocked cover and a ‘bellyband’ (presumably the purple strip on the image).
Big Red Machine was a decade in the making, starting with the sketch of a song The National’s Aaron Dessner sent Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon for the Dark Was the Night charity compilation and culminating with recording sessions with a host of friends. Anchored by Dessner and Vernon, their guests include vocalists like Lisa Hannigan, Phoebe Bridgers, This Is the Kit’s Kate Stables and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, and string arrangements from Rob Moose and Dessner’s twin brother Bryce. In all, it includes more than two dozen contributors from the minimalistic PEOPLE music platform created by Vernon and the Dessners to encourage collaboration and sharing. Side projects like this often seem tossed off, but Big Red Machine feels like the opposite—something remarkably ambitious, a labor of love that sees two of indie rock’s most talented and creative minds pursuing a passion without pressure, or limits.
The resulting music can sound at times like a National album with Vernon’s echoing, manipulated falsetto serving as a stark contrast to the warm, intimate baritone of Matt Berninger, and at other times like a Bon Iver album with more complex and inventive chordal patterns and rhythmic structures. It’s experimental but affecting with Vernon’s snippets of heart-on-sleeve vulnerability popping up screaming from a cloud of otherwise opaque lyrics. You can hear the influence of Vernon’s work in the hip-hop world in both the underlying beats and his vocals on tracks like “Gratitude” and “Lyla.” Polyrhythms and the odd time signatures Dessner loves to employ with The National abound, and combined with Vernon’s recent sonic exploration on 22 a Million and sometimes incomprehensible word salads, immediate accessibility isn’t really the goal here. But those complexities and sonic risks are also where the music is most rewarding. Neither The National nor Bon Iver does “happy music,” and the themes running through Big Red Machine are rarely uplifting, but there’s unmistakable joy in the music here, a deep care and love for what they were creating and how they got to create it—among friends who also happen to be overflowing with talent. Fans of either band are likely to share in that joy.
Big Red Machine is a project born out of love for downsized collaboration from two architects of stadium-sized indie-rock bands. Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and Aaron Dessner (the National) have on this project for years and 2018’s self-titled release is their most expansive recorded output. This is an ethereal listen, straight up; a record to get lost in. You’ll gravitate to new territory upon every subsequent spin, and you’ll certainly hear connections to their day jobs. Vernon is front and center with his penchant for complicated, programmed textures, and Dessner paints around his partner’s vocals with flowery, delicate soundscapes.
Big Red Machine was a decade in the making, starting with the sketch of a song The National’s Aaron Dessner sent Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon for the Dark Was the Night charity compilation. The duo enlisted more than two dozen collaborators, including vocalists like Lisa Hannigan, Phoebe Bridgers, This Is the Kit’s Kate Stables and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, and string arrangements from Rob Moose and Dessner’s twin brother Bryce. Side projects like this often seem tossed off, but Big Red Machine feels like the opposite—something remarkably ambitious, a labor of love that sees two of indie rock’s most talented and creative minds pursuing a passion without pressure, or limits.
The resulting music can sound at times like a National album with Vernon’s echoing, manipulated falsetto serving as a stark contrast to the warm, intimate baritone of Matt Berninger, and at other times like a BonIver album with more complex and inventive chordal patterns and rhythmic structures. It’s experimental but affecting with Vernon’s snippets of heart-on-sleeve vulnerability popping up screaming from a cloud of otherwise opaque lyrics.
Alongside the album, they’ve unveiled new videos for three tracks from the record: “Gratitude,” “Forest Green,” and “I Won’t Run From It.” The visuals were directed by Eric Timothy Carlson and Aaron Anderson, and they feature colorful layers of graphics, text, and images.
Aaron Dessner & Justin Vernon are Big Red Machine. A project evolving through the PEOPLE collective.
Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner Detail New Album as Big Red Machine.
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and the National’s Aaron Dessner have detailed their debut album as Big Red Machine. The self-titled LP is set to come out August 31st via their PEOPLE digital platform, as well as on vinyl, CD, and cassette in partnership with Jagjaguwar. Big Red Machine includes the four songs that Vernon and Dessner released last month (“Forest Green,” “Lyla,” “Gratitude,” and “Hymnostic”).
Vernon and Dessner developed Big Red Machine over the last two years. They produced the album together with frequent collaborator Brad Cook. Big Red Machine was recorded and mixed by Jonathan Low, mostly at Dessner’s Long Pond studio in upstate New York (where the National also recorded much of Sleep Well Beast).
In a press release, Dessner stated, “I don’t think the record would exist without the community that came together to make it.” He continued, “We took the music to a certain point, and then we reached out and sent it far and wide, inviting friends to contribute any and all ideas. We’ve viewed the record and the process from a community standpoint. We’re incredibly excited about it, as excited as we would be for any album we might make in another situation that’s more conventional. But this feels like something new the process felt different and the outcome felt different.”
The Fat Angel Sings 