Bon Iver’s beloved new album: A track-by-track breakdown
The wait is over.
Since June, Eau Claire’s Bon Iver has been teasing a new album with an ambiguous website, a cryptic trailer and song releases here and there.
Last month, the band officially revealed the album, “i,i,” would arrive Aug. 30. But they pulled another surprise Thursday, when they released the fourth Bon Iver album to streaming services.
What’s not so surprising: The album has been widely praised by critics and fans, evoking the Bon Iver spirit that’s made the band so beloved, while also pushing the sound in novel new directions.
Here’s a breakdown of each of the dozen tracks on ‘i,i.’
‘iMi’
Keeping with the importance of friendship — a key theme of Bon Iver’s last album ‘22, A Million’ — Justin Vernon relinquishes the mood-setting opening verses to longtime Eau Claire friend Mike Noyce. “Mine was a lover of another kind,” Noyce sings through fluttering vocals, before Vernon clearly chimes in over gentle guitar strokes: “Living in a lonesome way/Had me looking other ways. … But on a bright fall morning, I’m with it.” The song that follows is a radiant testament to that epiphany, evoking the spirit, and ebb and flow, of a gospel song, complemented by glistening guitar swirls, a climactic horn section freak out, and oddly effective sound effects that recall cracking whips and hissing irons.
‘We’
Move over “Old Town Road,” ‘cause Bon Iver’s here with its own curveball take on trap. With some production and writing attributed to Wheezy, a producer who’s worked with several A-listers from the Atlanta hip-hop scene (including Future, Migos, Young Thug and 21 Savage), “We” never actually turns into a bass-rattling banger, but the trap thumbprint is evident in those heavy opening moments, before the track brightens considerably with sax swells over the chorus. Vernon even sings the word “homie” at one point.
‘Holyfields,’
With wavy, synthesizer pulses, digital clicks and the occasional sprinkle of static, it’s like an alien being is trying to make contact throughout this ambient track, while Vernon’s lyrics suggest he’s made his own crucial discovery for himself. “I’m happy as I ever been,” he sings softly in the opening verse, the peculiar musical accompaniment giving way to sweeping, assured strings by the end when Vernon sings: “Better find a new way … Couldn’t learn it any other way, by the way.”
‘Hey Ma’
Vernon has become a bit more elusive as his career has progressed, largely avoiding clear photos of himself in press materials and concert photos, which makes his choice to include family home videos for the visual treatment so surprising. But it’s also appropriate, given the sentimental nature of the lyrics and synthesizers, with Vernon stressing the significance of family, imploring his listeners that it’s “Tall time to call your Ma up.”
‘U (Man Like)’
Like the opening track, Bon Iver goes back to Gospel, with a moving piano part played by Bruce Hornsby, and a choir of voices that includes Hornsby, Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, R&B artist Moses Sumney, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. “How much caring is there of American love,” the youth chorus sings, before Vernon follows with, “When there’s lovers sleeping in your streets.” With other lyrics alluding to the opioid epidemic and a rot in society, Vernon asks others to “give some time” for “a long day of fixing.”
‘Naeem’
“More love, more love, more love,” distorted voices softly plea at the start, with Vernon singing again and again that he can hear people crying during the choruses. Vernon says he can’t let that anger overtake him, but for the moment, that pain has him fired up — “I’m telling you that I do feel ya,” he sings near the end — resulting in some of the most forceful vocals of the album.
‘Jelmore’
“How long will you disregard the heat?” Vernon asks near the end of this song, his voice accompanied by only a flickering synthesizer. Considering the song earlier references a thrift-store manager with a gas mask, he appears to be addressing climate change, and he’s not horribly hopeful for the future. “We’ll all be gone by the fall,” Vernon sings. “We’ll all be gone by the falling light?”
‘Faith’
Vernon embarks on a spiritual journey on “Faith,” understanding that it’s a winding path, with unexpected twists and turns. “It’s not going the road I’d known as a child of God,” Vernon sings over Rob Moose’s rumbling and shimmering synths. His conclusion: “We have to know that faith declines. I’m not all out of mine.”
‘Marion’
This is the quietest song on ‘i,i,’ — you can even hear what sounds like a floorboard creaking at one point — and also one of the shortest, but there’s a lot of warmth in Vernon’s falsetto and acoustic guitar, singing about a “half a love” that he’s following to the rising sea.
‘Salem’
Vernon laments wasting so much time wondering about the future, and the hard lesson he learned as a result. But now, he’s focused on the present, preaching for a world he feels needs “elasticity, empowerment and ease” and vowing that he “won’t lead no lie.”
‘Sh’Diah’
The title stands for “(Expletive) Day in American History,” but this song, with its nourishing sax solo at the end, is far from bleak. “You find the time, don’t you, for the Lord,” Vernon asks, asking listeners to “adjust their scenery,” and cautioning that “there’s no fountain in silver.”
‘RABi’
“It’s all just scared of dying,” Vernon sings early in the album’s final entry. “We are terrified/So we run and hide/ For a little verified peace.” Vernon suggests there’s no need to run anymore. “Sunlight feels good now, don’t it?” he sings. “Something’s gotta ease your mind.” With melodic guitar lines, thoughtful and sparse production, and heroic horns and strings, Bon Iver does just that.
Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
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