Waverly Hart
Contributing Writer
Fans of Bon Iver had been waiting five long years for the band’s third album, 22, A Million. When the album was finally released on Sept. 30, it was quite a change from the soothing, acoustic stylings of the past two albums.
Bon Iver first stepped onto the music scene in 2007 with their debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago. The majority of For Emma was created when the band’s creator and mastermind behind their music, Justin Vernon, spent three months in a cabin in Wisconsin, writing and recording many of the songs on the album.
Upon listening to the album, one is transported to a log cabin in the woods through the raw vocals of Vernon’s falsetto and the hypnotic strumming of stringed instruments, the most prominent of which is Vernon’s own guitar playing.
The band’s sophomore self-titled album, Bon Iver, Bon Iver, carries on the calming acoustic sound. However, a slight change can be detected. Instead of an album one would categorize as completely folk, their second album moves into the realm of acoustic alternative. One of the most noticeable changes is that there is more emphasis on other band members, instead of a focus on Vernon and his guitar.
The album is full of rich arrangements and varying instruments, including a horn section and the stringed-instruments present in For Emma, as well as a collection of various electronic sounds.
However, 22, A Million, marks an atypical leap towards experimentation for Vernon. Putting the music itself aside, one can tell the difference in styling by simply looking at the album artwork and song titles. Bon Iver’s first two album covers displayed a sort of scenic wilderness, whereas 22 shows a black backdrop with randomly scattered symbols and drawings.
The song names are even more cryptic, with all of them including esoteric computerized symbols, numbers and random capitalization, causing the album to have a very detached feel. Nonetheless, once one listens to the actual music, this feeling fades away immediately.
22, A Million, combines layered voices and electronics that completely shift away from the band’s typical folk style. Almost all of the songs include Vernon’s layered voice, pitch-shifting, electronic instruments and random electronic sounds unique to the album.The song “21 MooN WATER” is a prime example of the album’s departure from Bon Iver’s past style. The song starts out with scattered, unintelligible voices and an electronic sound in the background. When Vernon’s own singing comes in, the different sounds continue. Eventually, the singing fades away and the song completely changes to eclectic electronic noises. The last minute is overtaken by these different sounds, which at some parts get so intense that they make the listener feel as if they were in a horror movie.
This song has a seamless transition into the next, and the listener cannot even realize the song has changed. Most of the album is the same way, without distinct differences between songs, making the album something that must be listened to in its totality.
Despite the drastic stylistic change, Vernon brilliantly utilizes musical elements to keep the same intimate “Bon Iver” feeling that all the albums have had. His soothing falsetto is still present but layered into pleasing harmonies. Additionally, the acoustic guitar can still be heard as a backdrop in many of the songs. 22, A Million, signifies an evolution for Bon Iver, while still being able to please their For Emma fans.