Kristen Stewart’s music video credits are few and far between—The Rolling Stones, Jenny Lewis, Interpol—though none of those prior artists were lucky enough to also get the actress to perform on the song itself. Enter the unlikely collaborators in Lord Huron, who are introducing a new chapter in their career today with the neo-noir stylings of “Who Laughs Last?” In between choruses led by the familiar voice of the band’s Ben Schneider are narrative spoken-word verses supplied by Stewart herself.
“I kept hearing her voice when I was writing this song, and just thought, ‘What the hell, I’ll reach out and see,’ thinking it was a long shot,” Schneider shared. “But she said she was interested, so we met up and hit it off talking about books, movies, and music. She immediately got what I was going for and had great ideas to boot. She’s just a great person and so creative and open. She added a lot to the video concept as well. It was the kind of collaboration you dream of, honestly.”
“I’ve always loved the band and immediately sparked to the manic drift of the song and to the mood,” Stewart added. “I love when a song is something you can kind of seep into and imagine. Ben is the nicest, I was so into reading his words…there’s nothing like making new friends through projects like these that just crop up.”
Despite offering a sneak peek at where Lord Huron is heading next, the single lands directly ahead of the band’s forthcoming sold-out tour in support of the tenth anniversary of their breakout 2015 LP Strange Trails. Earlier this week, however, they announced a set of dates to follow in the summer with special guests Waxahatchee, Feist, Kevin Morby, Indigo De Souza, Lee Fields, and S.G. Goodman on select dates. Check out the music video below—which implicitly pays homage to the late David Lynch’s Lost Highway, if not Stewart’s own recent film Love Lies Bleeding—and find the band’s upcoming summer tour dates here.
