How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?
| Big Red Machine
How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?
How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last? is the second studio album by American indie duo Big Red Machine, which consists of musicians Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon. It was released on August 27, 2021, via 37D03D and Jagjaguwar record labels. Dessner stated the album is built around themes of childhood, familial dynamics, and mental health. He cited The Last Waltz, the 1978 live album by the Band, as an inspiration for the record. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner’s expansive side project embraces new guests and familiar sounds, but sometimes feels lost in its own pleasant fog.
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Rolling Stone
Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner of the National lead an experimentally-minded collaborative effort.
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The Guardian
Aaron Dessner and Justin ‘Bon Iver’ Vernon recruit Taylor Swift, Fleet Foxes and more for this album full of misty autumnal beauty – and a quiet punch.
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Paste Magazine
Big Red Machine Is Still Indie Rock’s Most Fruitful Group Project.
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mxdwn Music
The group does a good job of capturing this feeling on How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?, despite its faults. Time continues to churn onward, and this album is a reflection of both the highs and lows that make living through it worthwhile.
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SPIN
Big Red Machine has always been a project centered on collectivism, and How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? takes that collagist mindset a step further. Though periodically unfocused, it mostly succeeds in not only championing the spirit of collaboration but also accentuating its guests’ artistic strengths. Throughout this record, Vernon and Dessner find joy in community.
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NME
The record covers the full range of human emotion and is huge in scope: from birth to death via love, friends, break-up, make-ups, what-could-have-beens and more. The epitome of the figurative “beating heart” that formed Big Red Machine, this is an autumnal album, one that lays the duo bare emotionally, and one that frequently calls for reflection.
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Under The Radar Magazine
The initial news of Dessner and Vernon joining forces certainly held promise and there were several debut album highlights as well. The duo have now painted themselves in the corner of having to bring some celebrity firepower to each song or there doesn’t seem to be much course left to run. Perhaps that’s what the album’s title is nodding towards. “Phoenix,” “Latter Days,” and “Renegade” are the easy bet boxed Trifecta here, with a dozen other also-rans not standing much of a chance.
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Magnetic Magazine
The pair wrap up all of those collaborations into this record that still feels incredibly cohesive. It isn’t necessarily something that lends itself to being Bon Iver or The National, but rather something down the middle with soft piano, drums fluttering in and out and vocals that offer at times hopeful views on the world and other times forlorned calls to lovers.
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Slant Magazine
Big Red Machine’s How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? leans into traditional song structures and fully fleshed-out arrangements.
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Stereogum
the album is a treasure trove to be sifted through — and given Ms. Swift’s involvement, that treasure is not likely to stay buried this time.
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The Irish Times
lingering goodness.
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Sputnik Music
They sound confident and ebullient, and even the darkest moments are tinged with the hope that community and collaboration can bring: the sound of musicians reveling in the sheer, simple joy of making music, with brothers or with the family that they chose.
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The Line of Best Fit
The songs do seem to come from the same universe but, for an album which belongs most to the realm of storytelling folk-music, it’s too disparate to evoke the personal connection people tend to tune in to that music for.
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The Spokesman-Review
Big Red Machine’s ‘How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?’ is profound and entertaining.
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Guitar
The fertile partnership between Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon reaches a new zenith on an outstanding collaborative album that sees The National’s guitarist finding his singing voice.
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Loud and Quiet
Over the course of an inconsistent hour, the lasting sadness is the ease with which Big Red Machine has waived its original goal; they’ve found an unclimbed mountain, and given up to sit on the first bench with a nice view.
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Northern Transmissions
Compassion permeates these tunes, something you can hear in every voice that sings on the album, in every musical note, and by the end of an impressive collection of songs (15 altogether!) you’ve gone on quite an emotional, experimental indie pop journey. Something that holds up to each of the artists’ main projects. It must have been cathartic, to create an album, “on the side,” that comes so powerfully down the pike.
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The Boar
Big Red Machine’s second album is pretentious, self-indulgent and underwhelming.
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Stereoboard
‘How Long Do You Think It's Going to Last?’ might be a prime candidate for a streaming-era pick ‘n’ mix approach, but its studied mood and unerringly consistent palette suggest that it wasn’t intended for that fate. Perhaps the best thing to do is surrender these songs, with their competing voices and jumble of personalities, to the vagaries of personal taste.
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DIY Magazine
There’s a terrific bounty to be enjoyed in the centre of the Vernon-Dessner Venn diagram.
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In Review Online
ig Red Machine’s latest record is a more star-forward, familiar affair, but its strength of artistry keeps its less experimental tracks from disappointing.
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Evening Standard
Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon have created another slow and stately side-hustle album.
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The New Statesman
The second album of Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon's collaborative project features a star-studded track list and meandering melodies.
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Vinyl Chapters
Each track on How Long Do You Think It’s Going To Last? from Big Red Machine is magnificently crafted and carefully thought through. When the album approaches its final few hurdles it can feel a bit repetitive but thankfully, the production from Dessner and Vernon plus the guest vocals from the wide array of singers make this album truly special.
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Exclaim!
Nevertheless, this second Big Red Machine is a masterclass on the aesthetic that Vernon and Dessner have been honing across their careers. A generation of artists from across genres have adopted mood and vibe as their guiding principle, yet few wield it with their precision. As its title suggests, their moment in the sun could be fleeting — fittingly, they waste no time making the most of it.
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Picky Bastards
he has released a project in which he melds the folk stylings of his early work with the glitch and glamour that would get added along the way. In the end, despite a few drawbacks, the album is a triumph for its two main architects.
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Hotpress
While Big Red Machine’s debut album was designed to be appreciated live, the new LP, despite its continued emphasis on collaboration, is a much more solitary beast. How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last? is a project to plug into alone as the evenings get shorter – which feels apt, as it poignantly addresses the transience of life, family and innocence.
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Irish Examiner
Dessner and Vernon’s writing is tighter on their second LP together, which is variously informed by Dessner’s experiences with depression and his nostalgia for his childhood in Cincinnati.
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Earbuddy
Lyrically we still get plenty of WTF head-scratchers and enough concrete details to form a working narrative. The album’s best moments come early while the latter naps on the couch. It’s best enjoyed on a Sunday while sipping a cup of coffee and admiring the lawn.
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