Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon talks about group’s latest album, ‘i,i’ coming Aug. 30
Following the release of a cryptic video last week and the launch of a puzzling new website, Bon Iver has officially announced that a new album is coming.
Titled “i,i,” the Eau Claire band’s fourth full-length will arrive Aug. 30 — with two new songs available now: “Jelmore” and “Faith.” They follow the release of “Hey, Ma,” which had its first live performance after its release at Summerfest last month, and “U (Man Like).”
“It feels very much like the most adult record, the most complete,” Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon said in a statement. “It feels like when you get through all this life, when the sun starts to set, and what happens is you start gaining perspective. And then you can put that perspective into more honest, generous work.”
While this is the most definitive statement from Bon Iver about the band’s next chapter, this is still a Bon Iver album, so there’s inherently some ambiguity in the songs’ subject matter, and in Vernon’s description of the work.
“The title of the record can mean whatever it means to you or me,” Vernon said in a statement. “It can mean deciphering and bolstering one’s identity. It can be how important the self is and how unimportant the self is, how we’re all connected.”
Partially made at Vernon’s April Base studio in Fall Creek, it seems the bulk of the work was done at Sonic Ranch in West Texas, where the band worked for six weeks and worked in as many as five live rooms at the same time.
Contributors to the album include Wisconsin natives and Bon Iver band members Sean Carey and Andrew Fitzpatrick, and special guests including Bruce Hornsby, the National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner, Moses Sumney, and Wisconsin natives Phil and Brad Cook.
There aren’t any more Wisconsin shows scheduled, but Bon Iver will be performing at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. on Oct. 4.