After the haunting For Emma, Forever Ago and its self-titled album, Bon Iver has released its third and perhaps the most groundbreaking LP in recent memory, 22, A Million.
It’s been five years since the June 2011 release of Bon Iver’s Bon Iver. After its release and during Bon Iver’s hiatus, Justin Vernon hardly retreated to his cabin in the woods, working with Kanye West on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Yeezus; writing and producing the song “Heavenly Father” for Zach Braff’s film Wish I Was Here; releasing Repave as the frontman of Volcano Choir; and collaborating with The National’s Aaron Dessner to bring the music festival titled Eaux Claires to Vernon’s Wisconsin hometown.
22, A Million remained largely a secret until this year’s Eaux Claires festival held Aug. 12-13, where Bon Iver performed the album in full the first night of the festival. Those in attendance were the first to hear the album, and that night two singles “22 (Over S∞∞N)” and “10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⊠ ⊠” were released on a limited edition vinyl and sold to those in attendance. Vernon previously hinted there would be new music in a tweet and Facebook live post a couple weeks before the festival, but the announcement of the album from the band wasn’t made until that night.
hey
— blobtower (@blobtower) June 9, 2016
for anyone who wants to know…
Bon Iver will be playing a set made of NEW music this august @EauxClairesWI
The album — released Sept. 30 — is both a memory of Vernon’s past albums and testament to what his music can be. Boasting some crazy song titles (“666 ʇ” and “715-CRΣΣKS” to name a couple), the album takes listeners through Vernon’s struggle with fame, anxiety and self-discovery. A few days after Bon Iver’s performance at Eaux Claires, a statement from Vernon’s friend Trevor Hagen was released on its website, stating that 22, A Million is “based on how we have always approached what music can be or do.”
22, A Million is a different Bon Iver when compared to For Emma and Bon Iver, something a little more haunting and experimental. Vernon pushes the status quo for indie artists, transforming from an album largely influenced by the acoustic sound in 2008 to one focused more on the electronic and distorted sounds.
Vernon hasn’t abandoned the sounds that won him two Grammys, though. 22, A Million holds pieces of songs such as “Woods” with a strong focus on nothing but autotuned vocals on “715-CRΣΣKS” and the falsetto of “Hinnom, TX” on "33 'GOD.' "
22, A Million also incorporates brief, sometimes unrecognizable samples from various artists, something not seen in previous albums. These samples include Paolo Nutini’s “Iron Sky” on "33 'GOD,' " a live version of Mahalia Jackson’s “How I Got Over” on “22 (Over S∞∞N)” and an uncredited Stevie Nicks recording of her singing “Wild Heart” in a dressing room on “10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⊠ ⊠.”
Although Vernon has transformed the sound of pain incorporated in an acoustic guitar in For Emma to the sound of distorted, distant vocals and various saxophones (thanks to the Sad Sax of Shit), the poetic and often painful lyrics are not lost in the past. With lines such as “I draw an ear around you / so I can speak into the silence” on “33 'GOD,' " “Oh, then how we gonna cry? / Because for once it might not mean something” on “715-CRΣΣKS” and “If it’s harmed, it’s harmed me, it’ll harm, I let it in” on “00000 Million,” Vernon outlines his struggles in a way that does not just let listeners hear his pain but also feel it.
Something special about the album is noticeable at first glance and when opening the jacket: intricate artwork of various seemingly unrelated symbols, some associated with the song titles and others appearing to be completely random. The artwork is done by Eric Timothy Carlson and is meant to represent the symbolism in the music, according to Carson. He likens the art to a “book of lore” and an “inner journey.”
The New York Times wrote a feature on Vernon before the album was released, speaking to the repetition of the line “It might be over soon” in “22 (Over S∞∞N).” Vernon states the line represents that “The bad stuff might be over soon, but maybe the good stuff might be over soon. So you’d better figure out how to enjoy this life and participate in it.”
If For Emma, Forever Ago is the cool of the winter and Bon Iver is the heat of summer, 22, A Million is the first bloom of spring, cracking the ground reminding everybody that “It might be over soon.”
