Jenny Lewis & Serengeti – “Idiot”

Jenny Lewis & Serengeti – “Idiot”

Jenny Lewis and Serengeti struck up a friendship after a chance encounter at a music festival in 2018, and that friendship has now borne musical fruit. During lockdown, the indie-rock icon and the idiosyncratic Chicago indie rapper recorded five songs together, co-produced by Fog’s Andrew Broder. We’ve already heard a couple of those collaborative tracks, “Unblu” and “Vroom Vroom.” Today, we’re hearing one more.

Their new track is “Idiot,” a slinky track with Serengeti’s deadpan bars and Lewis’ beguiling vocals over skittering beats and keyboard plinks. “Jenny sent the beat and it’s always a great joy, it’s fun to do,” Serengeti explains. “I wrote a small rap about a man who gets knocked out by his mom’s boyfriend and then reconnects with his high school girlfriend.”

“These songs with Dave start with a late night feeling and access to — because of where we’re at right now in the world — whatever you have in your house that makes a sound,” Lewis says. “Or, I don’t have Pro Tools, so I use my phone, and I’ve got a little drum machine and a drum kit. Sometimes when I’m doing my vocals, Forensic Files is on in the background. That makes it onto the track because that’s just what’s happening.”

Listen to “Idiot” below.

more from New Music