Big Red Machine is a collaboration of Bon Iver’s frontman, Justin Vernon, and The National’s keyboardist, Aaron Dessner, formed in June 2018. The band name is a reference to a song of the same name made by Vernon and Dessner in a collaboration for the 2009 Red Hot charity compilation, Dark Was the Night. The song title itself is a reference to the name of the Cincinnati Reds baseball teams from Dessner’s hometown. Vernon, when writing the lyrics to the song, misinterpreted the meaning of the title and instead believed it was a reference to the heart.

Big Red Machine, along with Dessner’s brother and fellow member of The National, Bryce Dessner, launched a music platform called PEOPLE. The duo released four songs exclusively on the website. In July, a self-titled album was announced, which would contain their four PEOPLE tracks. The PEOPLE-exclusive songs were then released on various other streaming services.