Wiki
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Length
4:17
“I Need a Forest Fire” is all about starting over – something in James' romantic relationship has gone awry and he believes a fresh start is the solution. Like a forest fire, his relationship is out of control, but after it has burned through, he is left with fresh, fertile ground and a new beginning.
The track features lead singer Justin Vernon of indie rock band Bon Iver and was produced with help from notable producer Rick Rubin. Both collaborators have good relations with James. In an interview with Pitchfork, James explains his creative process with the two collaborators:
I explored sitting at the piano and singing a lot more. I would talk with Justin Vernon, who is a great producer—a lot of people may not know that about him. He’s a good person to talk to. Much like Rick , actually. Justin is an incredibly warm man. We’ve become really good friends. When I first met him, it felt like we had been separated somewhere down the line and were meeting each other again. It was a very strange feeling. In the studio, he would say things like, “Oh man, I love the chords in that track,” and that gave me so much confidence. Singing standing up at a mic with someone else recording was new, too; there never was any time to set up properly before.
The track is not James and Bon Iver’s first collaboration, with “Fall Creek Boys Choir” being a notable prior involvement.
On May 10, 2016, the music video was released for the song despite James mentioning in an interview with Gilles Peterson on BBC Radio 6 that he probably won’t release a video for any of the songs on this album because he feels he doesn’t have a whole lot of creative control.
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