Calexico & Iron & Wine Share ‘Midnight Sun’ Video

On June 14, Calexico and Iron & Wine will release their collaborative debut LP Years to Burn via Sub Pop and City Slang. After issuing the record’s lead single “Father Mountain,” the two artists have released their second single “Midnight Sun.”

In the mellow and rich tune, Calexico’s Joey Burns and Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam trade vocal verses before Burns steps out for a wailing electric guitar solo. Underlying the number is a confident beat from Calexico drummer John Convertino as well as gorgeous call-and-refrain vocal harmonies. As Burns explained:

Sam sent some demos the week before we met to record the album. Based on the feel of those demos, I wrote the song “Midnight Sun” the day I got to Nashville. I arrived at our rental house the day before everyone else and was happy to find a piano, old pump organ and guitar to do some writing. I was up late and came up with a tune that would bridge both bands’ worlds. I started with a drone in F# and was curious as to where it would take me.

The sonically number has been released with a new music video featuring 100 paintings created by Beam and animated by Jonny Sanders. Watch the artistic lyric video below: