Bon Iver

Justin Vernon’s Bon Iver

There can not be any doubt that Justin Vernon, a founder and leader of Bon Iver, is a heart and soul of the band. He is truly faithful to music and his versatile creativity is the best possible proof. Justin founded the quartet Bon Iver in 2007 and a year later the musicians pleased listeners with their debut album For Emma, Forever Ago. All emotions that Vernon had accumulated by that time were transformed into songs: love, experience and feeling of guilt found their place among notes and melodies. It is quite notable that the rockers needed the minimum of equipment. Thus, they used only their instruments and several microphones. It is needless to say that numerous fans of vintage sound, which is free from heavy digital processing, were just amazed by that record. Bon Iver got fans, who were looking forward to the rockers’ following release. Four years later it finally took place. Meet Bon Iver!

Ten fragments of Bon Iver

In one of the interviews, Justin stated that he had a target to develop absolutely new sound. Vernon invited several musicians including saxophonist Colin Stetson to take part in the creation of Bon Iver and he was ready to listen to their ideas. That was the way that rockers wrote new songs: altogether. Apparently there was a great number of ideas, so the compositions turned out to be different and not alike. The main track Perth sounds very powerful and energetic, dealing with the introductive role perfectly. Perth is followed by a very calm song Minnesota, WI, which guitars are well mixed with Stetson’s saxophone and tricky drums part. Special attention was paid to Justin’s vocals, however listeners will not find any major changes here – his voice still sounds amazing, complementing and emphasizing melodies. Traditionally, the recording process was unordinary again. The musicians built the studio by themselves in the old building of a veterinary clinic. Vernon was satisfied with his decision, because the band had freedom, which is extremely necessary for the process of creative work. As the result Bon Iver pleased their fans with ten amazing compositions. Not such a big number, however it proved to be just enough for creation of fairy atmosphere.

How capacious is indie-rock?

Independence had always attracted musicians. Especially it was fascinating for those artists, whose creativity could be hardly determined as an example of a certain genre. Bon Iver write music, not following straight rules and boundaries of styles and genres, that is why their art is so many-sided. They work thoroughly on arrangements, they choose which instruments should get an extra accent in this or that song. Thus, in several compositions the drum part plays the main role, in others the saxophone creates the mood, while sometimes the musicians can easily handle with keyboards only. Almost the whole album is a perfectly prepared improvisation. Bon Iver has a light and air sound, while absence of digital studio effects makes it even better and more natural. Just imagine, the whole long play was recorded in the studio that had been built in the old building by the musicians for themselves. That is how the real music is born – with minimum of equipment and with maximum of creativity and imagination.