BON IVER

Bon Iver

[JAGJAGUWAR]

From obscure indie-folk singer to Kanye West’s secret weapon in a few short years—things have certainly changed for Justin Vernon. He recorded his debut album in a Wisconsin cabin and released it without fanfare under the Bon Iver banner, only to see it become one of the most talked-about records of 2008. Vernon toured hard, contributed to Yeezy’s 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and then got to work on a follow-up of his own. And what a follow-up: Bon Iver is beautiful, as lush as its predecessor was stark. These songs are at once insular and expansive, Vernon’s wistful double-tracked vocals floating through soundscapes of crystalline acoustic guitar, layers of horns, vocals and ghostly pedal steel guitar. It’s particularly effective on “Holocene,” its three-note guitar motif rising and falling like deep breaths, and on “Calgary,” with Vernon singing in a lonesome falsetto. Bon Iver is that magical second record that improves upon the first. –Eric R. Danton