Bon Iver Recruit Bruce Springsteen, Jenny Lewis, And Others For Their Latest Single, ‘AUATC’

Justin Vernon has worked with some noteworthy people in the music world over the years. He’s contributed to Kanye West material, he has a feature on Taylor Swift’s new album (which just became his highest-charting song ever), and he and now-Swift collaborator Aaron Dessner of The National teamed up as Big Red Machine for a self-titled 2018 album. Now Vernon has added more musical partners to his lengthy list of them on his new Bon Iver song, “AUATC” (short for “Ate Up All Their Cake”).

Most notable is the presence of a legend: Bruce Springsteen, who contributes vocals to the track. Also credited are Jenny Lewis, Phil Cook, Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner (who has been a member of Bon Iver since last year), and others.

The release of the song supports a number of causes, as the song’s YouTube description reads, “From celebrating art and music, to empowering women, to liberating incarcerated people, to fighting climate change, these organizations work tirelessly to foster a world that celebrates our humanity on a local, national, and global level. Please explore, support, and take action.” It then shares links for Minneapolis Sanctuary Movement, Red Letter Grant, Equal Justice Initiative, National Independent Venue Association, and 350.

“AUATC” follows the similarly titled “PDLIF” (“Please Don’t Live In Fear”), which he released back in April.

This song has been floating around for a while now. Vernon shared an unfinished version of it in the summer of 2018, and Vernon’s digital platform PEOPLE described the track as “a rough draft of a song Phil and Justin worked on last summer. We want to finish it but havent had time in the same space to do so. We’re open to ideas.” That version of the song was also said to include a sample of “live james taylor 1997 in there.” On a similar note, Vernon also tweeted when sharing the track, “Draft of a song me and @philcookmusic made last summer. I love the idea so much, dont know how to finish it. Also, Phil is my main musical teacher AND my life long brother.”

Watch the “AUATC” video above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.