22, a Million
A beautiful, fractured collage of acoustic folk and digital decay. Justin Vernon dismantles his singer-songwriter identity with tape loops, glitchy samplers, and radical vocal proc
September 30, 2016 · Jagjaguwar
A beautiful, fractured collage of acoustic folk and digital decay. Justin Vernon dismantles his singer-songwriter identity with tape loops, glitchy samplers, and radical vocal proc
September 30, 2016 · Jagjaguwar
Digital degradation and fractured tape loops splinter the band's acoustic foundations, transforming intimate songwriting into a series of glitching, anxious transmissions. Recorded at April Base studio, the album routes traditional instrumentation through a custom-built harmonizer to warp the lead vocals into a shattered, multi-layered choir. What remains is a tense, beautiful collision between organic warmth and mechanical static, capturing a songwriter rebuilding his entire sonic vocabulary from the ground up.
“This is a febrile folktronica album which confounds and astounds in equal measure, melting your heart one minute and agitating your eardrums the next, but always baffling and beautiful”Read review
“Vernon remains an oblique lyricist, but the knottiness can be compelling”Read review
“As with his work that precedes it, the impact of Vernon’s 22, A Million far outlasts that moment when the record stops playing”Read review
“All of it’s layered complexity at least turns heads and demands further attention”Read review
“It’s an impressive feat of reinvention that manages to keep Vernon’s emotional core fully intact no matter how far the music strays from established Bon Iver territory”Read review
“An astonishing record that grapples with the infinite”Read review
“This is a wildly informed album, and that also works to its advantage”Read review
“In Bon Iver’s resurrection, now, the lights are dim, the lineaments shielded by darkness, the voice heavily processed”Read review
“The flashes of brilliance in Justin Vernon’s dark night of the soul are frustratingly few on his cryptic, effects-laden third album”Read review
“Behind the arranged glitches and processed voices are deeply felt songs about uncertainty”Read review
“The band’s most impressive record to date, surging forward with oddities that, while certainly nothing new to adventurous listeners, bridge the gap with satisfaction”
“22, A Million synthesizes archaic and future styles to address and remedy the ailments of the present”Read review
How does 22, a Million sound next to the rest of Bon Iver's catalogue?
The writing leans notably further into existential than the rest of the catalogue.
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