Premiere: Brasstracks Draft Col3trane For Slow-Burning “Missed Your Call”

You may have noticed this week that Brooklyn-based, Grammy-winning duo Brasstracks (aka multi-instrumentalist Ivan Jackson and percussionist Conor Rayne) are getting ready to release their third album. They got the ball rolling last week with the Samm Henshaw-assisted “Change For Me” and now they’re back with the project’s second single “Missed Your Call”, this time bringing in London’s Col3trane for vocals, and a joyous pre-quarantine visual from Genmotion.

The pair explain that the idea behind the album was to pay tribute to the A-B cassette era by making music in pairs, so expect an album of pure collaborations. It’s a formula that’s more than likely to yield success and there’s no reason that shouldn’t continue with “Missed Your Call”. Having bonded over a mutual love for D’Angelo, the singer and two musicians found an instant chemistry that they’ve managed to translate to the song itself. Although “Change For Me” was an upbeat party jam, “Missed Your Call” is a little more subdued, amplifying Col3trane’s pained vocals with a chirpy but understated brass melody and a delicate drum beat. Regardless, it’ll still put a smile on your face no matter what.

Speaking with Complex via email, Brasstracks said: “Col3trane came into the studio and we immediately bonded over our love of D’Angelo’s ‘Spanish Joint’, so it already felt like we weren’t going to create a stereotypical Brasstracks song that day. I picked up an acoustic guitar, Conor started messing with mixing both live drums and various drum machines in the studio, and Col3trane immediately started vibing and writing. We made kind of a left turn for the pre-chorus, and I raised my concerns about it maybe being too much. He immediately said, ‘No, I’m into it’ and proceeded to write one of the coolest moments in the song. You could tell that he had it all planned in his head; notes, lyrics, ad-libs and all.”