Big Red Machine

The generous spirit and desire to push music forward has never been more deeply felt than on Big Red Machine’s “How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?,” the second album from Aaron Dessner’s ever-morphing project with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon.

Collaborators and friends show up across the album, continuing the reciprocal exchange of ideas that has come to define their creative community. Songs feature guest vocals and writing contributions from artist friends including Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold (“Phoenix”); Ben Howard and This Is The Kit (“June’s a River”); Naeem (“Easy to Sabotage’); Sharon Van Etten, Lisa Hannigan and My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Nova (“Hutch”); and Taylor Swift (“Birch” and “Renegade”). Swift's sister albums “folklore” and “evermore” were co-produced by Dessner, and her encouragement helped Dessner realize “how connected this Big Red Machine music was to everything else I was doing, and that I was always supposed to be chasing these ideas.”

“That’s what makes it special,” Dessner says. “With everyone that's on this record, there's an openness, a creative generosity and an emotional quality that connects it all together.”