Mykki Blanco enlisted Devendra Banhart for a spiritual odyssey on their new song, “You Will Find It.”
“You Will Find It” boasts twinkling guitar and an atmospheric aura, although Blanco ramps up the tension with a run of crackling verses peppered with periodic synth throbs and drums. In their lyrics, Blanco namechecks Lady Gaga and Alice Coltrane (plus Betty Rubble and Snow White) as they alternately mull deep existential questions and slip in a few clever clapbacks: “All Hail, her highness, La Dona Blanco,” Blanco spits, “I see some fakes, they got some needs/GoFundMe with your problems.”
“You Will Find It” began as an interlude for Blanco’s next album, although they and producer FaltyDL ultimately decided to expand it into a proper song. Banhart contributed backing vocals, guitar and hand chimes to the track, and in a press release Blanco compared working with him to working with another personal hero, Kathleen Hanna.
“He’s not just a feature,” Blanco said of Banhart, “he is now in the blood of the song, he’s a part of the composition.”
Banhart added, “I wanted to use the word fearless to describe Mykki, but that’s not very real is it, who’s actually fearless? Brave is the word… also, it was a total honor and pleasure to sing on a song that mentions Palo Santo and Alice Coltrane! Deep Bow to thee dear Mykki!”
Blanco said it “felt necessary” to release “You Will Find It” now, to offer “something tranquil and sanguine to counter all of our current anxieties.”
They continued, “‘You Will Find It’ is a meditation. I don’t believe that everything spiritual has to feel so heavy and serious; I feel the opposite, actually. If people associated prayer with laughter, if prayer was made to feel sensual and funny and bitchy and ordinary, then I think more people would be comfortable acknowledging some kind of personal divine connection. This song is about exploring that connection: I should be able to smoke a joint with God and just chill a bit.”
Blanco has yet to offer any details on their next album, such as a release date or title. It will follow their 2016 debut LP, Mykki.
