BON IVER
After a five year break and huge anticipation spurred by questioning whether we are ever going to see another album of Bon Iver (due to Justin Vernon’s other projects), the band is back with the perplexing record titled 22, A Million. The title is quotidian, and the ordinary stops there.
Everything else is a challenge, whether we are talking about the song titles or differentiating sounds and vocal articulations. Everything is a challenge.
With the first single, 22 (Over S??N), it was clear that Bon Iver will departure from the previous and step into the unknown territory. The enigmatic trajectory was further confirmed with the release of the second single 33 ‘’GOD’’. The album is a final corpus delicti.
Bon Iver are conducting an experiment; they are displaying their genius by creating a music that connects indie folk with undiscovered path of electronic music. They have accomplished something that is intermittently dubious to listen. Still, the decision to experiment with electronic does not come as a surprise, as Justin Vernon has collaborated with it in the past. The choice comes naturally, considering we are talking about a mercurial individual. His nature reflects in the music.
What kind of person is that? It is a person who was never satisfied with mediocrity, the one who thinks borders exist so that we can cross them. Everything exists so that we can examine it. Entering new dimensions is this person’s destiny. That is why the song titles are eccentric. Bon Iver puts out a psycho test for each listener, a first step of fan selection. If your blood pressures does not rise here, you are definitely going to experiences some changes in your organism when you give it a first listen.
Mediocrity can not be found neither in themes. Love and religion are woven in Justin’s complex vocal interpretation, so you can only catch a few clear lines here and there. Still, the affectionate tone is undeniable and it guides you through the record. Justin transformed his voice via software called Messina, a software he invented with the help of engineer Chris Messina. The result is not something that would pull you away from Bon Iver. On the contrary, it gives you a hint of the blue swamp the band is planning to hijack in the future in order to find peace.
Although 715 – CR??KS uses only Messina instrumentations, it sounds humanly. 00000 Million is a soft ballade, the only one resembling the old era of Bon Iver.
Love at second glance,
it is not something that we need.
I will just leave these lines here as the conclusion. Go ahead and press play. Experience the future.
