Kevin Bronson on March 16th, 2022

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Ethan Gruska’s album-release show at the Echo was the last concert we witnessed before COVID-19 paralyzed live music, so anything the L.A. native has his mitts on seems pretty special. That the new single “So Unimportant” is a collaboration with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon is icing on the cake.

Two years in the making, the richly layered song was made long-distance. It’s the sixth single in a series launched by the Psychic Hotline label founded by Sylvan Esso.

Vernon and Gruska have never met in person, but now they’re pen pals of a sort.

“Around March 10 of 2020, Justin was supposed to come to L.A. and we were going to spend a few days making some stuff. Obviously, that didn’t happen,” Gruska says. “We all went into lockdown shortly after. About two weeks into deep quarantine, Justin and I connected and decided it would still be fun to send each other files and try something remotely. ‘So Unimportant’ was the first thing that came to fruition. … The fact that I now have a song with Justin just completely blows my mind. He’s been my pie in the sky / I’d do anything to collaborate with artist for a really long time and having this song together is one of the most special things that has ever happened to me in my musical life.”

Says Vernon: “My dear friend and great drummer, JT Bates, showed me the music of Ethan Gruska a number of years ago. It’s not often that something immediately grasps you where you stand like his music did. It only happens a few times in one’s life. Ethan’s musicality and touch has magic in it. We have not yet met in person, but have exchanged the longest, flirtiest texts in history. I hope to be near the mine of his mind for as long as possible. This song is just the first thing I threw at the wall. He scraped it off that wall and turned it into a song I’ll appreciate forever.”

||| Stream: “So Unimportant”