Kanye West And Bon Iver Are Both In This New Video By Francis And The Lights

By Caitlin White

Today, a New York-based band called Francis and the Lights–led by Francis Farewell Starlite and counting Chance The Rapper as a superfan–dropped a brand new video for a song called “Friends” that features both Kanye West and Bon Iver. Pretty sure the last time all three of those musician’s names appeared in a sentence together… it was on a Kanye album? So that’s quite a feat. And of course, with the talents of Justin Vernon and Ye involved, the song and video are gorgeous and quieting. There is a calmness in his declaration of friendship that might come as a balm, say if you needed something soothing today, this could be it.

The Chance connection is far from random–Francis and the Lights were featured on both Surf and Chance’s latest album, Coloring Book. Actually, the band and Jeremih are credited on “Summer Friends,” a track that a lot of people have complained sounds like it has knockoff Bon Iver vocals.

Now, Chance has clarified “Summer Friends” samples this original “Friends” song, and that it is, in fact, Justin Vernon and Francis both singing on Chance’s track.

Francis and The Lights sampled his own song to produce Summer Friends for me, this is the original https://t.co/fQ6f0Hvpkn #friendsvideo

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) July 7, 2016

The video was directed by Jake Schreier, and the song sounds like it would be right at home on James Blake’s new album, with wispy, yearning AutoTuned vocals, hypnotic, lulling beats and opaque synths. The track features a host of collaborators, including Rostam Batmanglij, BJ Burton, Aaron Lammer of Francis and the Lights), Ariel Rechtshaid, Cashmere Cat, and Benny Blanco. Justin Vernon and Francis are the primary vocalists on the track, but listen for a few vocal cameos from Kanye, too. Watch the video below.