Description
On his fourth album, Justin Vernon reassembles the familiar Bon Iver elements like a cubist collage, with his voice fearlessly front and center – and the result is his most honest and forthright music ever. i,i completes a seasonal quartet of Bon Iver albums, starting with the wintry confessions of 2008’s For Emma, Forever Ago and ending now, in autumn. Yet i,i has a brighter, more optimistic and open feel than its “summer” predecessor 22, a Million.
All the familiar elements are here – impressionist swells of sound, impenetrable-yet-tender lyrics, mesmerizing studio tricks – and they are buoyed by Vernon’s supple baritone, the instrument he knows how to manipulate best. Acoustic guitar, horns, and piano return to prominence alongside the jittery electronics and synths that Vernon has lately favored. But the mood he conjures with these elements feels new. These songs don’t swallow you whole with grandeur; they look outward, leaving some room for the rest of the world.
Bon Iver have imperceptibly moved from requesting close listening to requiring it, and i,i spins a mesmerising web of intensely majestic music. Listen closely and you can hear the language of pop being redrafted in real time.
*Also available on 12″ vinyl.
