R & B cult icon Swamp Dogg (Jerry Williams Jr.) teamed up with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon on the trippy single “I’ll Pretend” from Dogg’s forthcoming album Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune.
Vernon contributed vocals to the 75-year-old soul innovator’s droning track awash with synths, blues guitar, and nearly dehumanizing voice effects. The accompanying clip was directed by Poliça’s Ryan Olson and Isaac Gale. Olson also produced Swamp Dogg’s new album. NPR revealed the creative process behind the new track:
First, Swamp toyed with using Auto-Tune to amplify his new songs’ lonely storylines in his own studio, then he sent the tracks to Olson (who deconstructed some of the arrangements and added icy, chaotically collaged layers of synthesizer) and Vernon (who put finishing touches on the vocals.)
Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune drops on September 7.
Journalist David Marchese, of the excellent Quincy Jones interview fame, wrote an in-depth profile of Swamp Dogg for Spin in 2013. You can check that out here.
