A couple months back, the group isomonstrosity — which is made up of producer Johan Lenox, composer Ellen Reid, and conductor Yuga Cohler — announced their self-titled debut album, which is out next week. The album has a large roster of guest stars; Danny Brown and 645AR were featured on lead single “Careful What You Wish For.” Today, the collective is back with a new song, “Take Me Back,” which features Empress Of and a piano composition from the National’s Bryce Dessner.
“This track had a long journey,” Reid said in a statement. “At first we had Empress Of’s vocal line over a pop track, but I felt like it needed something less conspicuous to evoke the mood we were going for. After a few conversations, we threw the vocal line over Bryce Dessner’s hypnotic piano line, and we were immediately excited about this direction.”
“We made the song through text and email, typical of 2020,” Empress Of shared. “I was starving to go out and be surrounded by people and I feel like you can hear that energy on this piece of music. It’s an unconventional song for an unconventional time in all our lives.”
“At the very start of the pandemic, I had my first sustained break in travel and touring in over 15 years,” Dessner said. “The request from my friends Johan and Ellen to write music, any music, which would be collaged into this larger isomonstrosity project gave me something to meditate on in that moment of quiet. I wrote several simple little pieces including this piano excerpt. Through processing they’ve transformed it into something surprising and beautiful to hear the amazing Empress Of on the track.”
Listen below.
isomonstrosity is out 11/18 on Brassland.
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