Bon Iver - Studio Albums & EP 2008-2011 (3CD)

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Bon Iver - Studio Albums & EP 2008-2011 (3CD)

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Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, became one of the landmark albums of the late-2000s indie folk sound. Singer/songwriter Justin Vernon's spare sound and pure vocals caught the attention of people looking for something folky, yet not folksy in any way. Further albums refining and shifting their sound bolstered the band's popularity and widened their fan base, earning them a famous fan (and future collaborator) in Kanye West.

Justin Vernon began recording under the nom de band Bon Iver following the breakup of DeYarmond Edison, an indie folk group similar in tone and manner to Iron & Wine, Little Wings, and – to a certain extent – Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Vernon's solo project took DeYarmond Edison's introspective, folky sound and embellished it with quirky orchestral touches that nodded to Sparklehorse and the drifty optimism of the Flaming Lips. Vernon moved back to Wisconsin the winter following DeYarmond's demise, setting up camp in a remote cabin in the north woods for three months. It was a hugely generative period for Vernon; writing and recording songs in 12-hour bursts, he found himself with a nine-song debut album by spring. He dubbed the project Bon Iver (an intentional misspelling of the French for "good winter"), and the disc, For Emma, Forever Ago, was released on Jagjaguwar in early 2008.

Joined in his live shows by Sean Carey, Vernon toured throughout the eastern U.S. and Canada throughout the remainder of the year, sharing the stage with like-minded singer/songwriter Elvis Perkins. As the year progressed, the album became quite popular with both the buying public and critics, eventually landing on a number of "best of 2008" year-end lists. In January 2009, Bon Iver returned with an EP of old and new songs titled Blood Bank. One of Vernon's fans turned out to be Kanye West, who brought him to Hawaii later that year to add vocals to a couple tracks on West's 2010 album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. When it came time to return to Vernon's own music, he continued stretching his legs by composing orchestral, lushly arranged folk songs that turned their back on For Emma's intimate sound. The new tunes were released during the following summer as Bon Iver. It received generally positive reviews, topped the charts in several countries, and hit number two in America. In February 2012, Bon Iver won two Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Album and Best New Artist.

After a year of touring, Vernon dropped a bombshell, stating in an interview that Bon Iver was "winding down" and he'd be working on other projects instead. The first of these was his blues-based group, the Shouting Matches, who played a set at 2013's Coachella festival. Later that year another of his bands, Volcano Choir, released their second album, Repave, and Vernon appeared on Kanye West's Yeezus. It turned out that Bon Iver wasn't as wound down as it seemed and sporadically surfaced over the next couple years, with the band providing a cover of Peter Gabriel's "Come Talk to Me" on the singer's 2013 album, And I'll Scratch Yours, and landing the new song "Heavenly Father" on the soundtrack to the 2014 film Wish I Was Here. After yet another statement saying that Bon Iver wasn't working on anything new, the band appeared at the festival Vernon co-curated with the National's Aaron Dessner, Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival, and performed two new songs.

Finally, in early 2016, Vernon went on record saying Bon Iver was actually still happening and a new album was in the works. Before that could happen, Vernon showed up on James Blake's March album, The Colour in Anything, co-writing a song. At the 2016 Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival held in August, Bon Iver played a set made up of all new songs and the next day announced a new album, 22, A Million. It was released on Jagjaguwar in September of 2016 and mostly eschewed Vernon's beginnings in favor of a chopped-up, dramatic indie folktronica sound.

Biography by Margaret Reges, Allmusic.com

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Bon Iver - Studio Albums & EP 2008-2011 (3CD)

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Bon Iver - Studio Albums & EP 2008-2011 (3CD)

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Bon Iver is the work of Justin Vernon. He isolated himself in a remote cabin in Wisconsin for almost four months, writing, and recording the songs on For Emma, Forever Ago, his haunting debut album. A few parts (horns, drums, and backing vocals) were added in a North Carolina studio, but for the majority of the time it's just Vernon, his utterly disarming voice, and his enchanting songs. The voice is the first thing you notice. Vernon's falsetto soars like a hawk and when he adds harmonies and massed backing vocals, it can truly be breathtaking. "The Wolves (Acts I & II)" truly shows what Vernon can do as he croons, swoops, and cajoles his way through an erratic and enchanting melody like Marvin Gaye after a couple trips to the backyard still. "Skinny Love" shows more of his range as he climbs down from the heights of falsetto and shouts out the angry and heartachey words quite convincingly. Framing his voice are suitably subdued arrangements built around acoustic guitars and filled out with subtle electric guitars, the occasional light drums, and slide guitar. Vernon has a steady grasp of dynamics too; the ebb and flow of "Creature Fear" is powerfully dramatic and when the chorus hits it's hard not to be swept away by the flood of tattered emotion. Almost every song has a moment where the emotion peaks and hearts begin to weaken and bend: the beauty of that voice is what pulls you through every time. For Emma captures the sound of broken and quiet isolation, wraps it in a beautiful package, and delivers it to your door with a beating, bruised heart. It's quite an achievement for a debut and the promise of greatness in the future is high. Oh, and because you have to mention it, Iron & Wine. Also, Little Wings. Most of all, though, Bon Iver.

Review by Tim Sendra, Allmusic.com

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Bon Iver - Studio Albums & EP 2008-2011 (3CD)

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Bon Iver's debut album made a huge splash in 2008, receiving both critical acclaim and near-mainstream popularity as the record fanned out over indie rockers, alt-folk fans, and lovers of quietly emotional and frequently inspiring songs sung by a dude with the voice of an angel. All the adulation was well deserved, because For Emma, Forever Ago is the kind of record that manages to capture a musician's soul and transmit it in a way that truly connects with a large array of listeners. It's an impressive achievement and one that holds up over many listens. Released in 2009, the Blood Bank EP is both a pause for breath for Justin Vernon and a reminder why so many people fell so deeply in love with the record and the sound he created. Recorded over a couple years and in various locations, the EP sounds like outtakes from Emma, but not in a bad way. "Blood Bank," with its subtly propulsive drums and idiosyncratic lyrics, would have been one of the album's best moments. The same goes for the more experimental but still beautiful "Babys," which features both some gently jarring piano and Vernon's soothing, multi-tracked falsetto. The only stretch Vernon makes here is on the closing "Woods" – in a somewhat bold move, he embraces Auto-Tune and warps his vocals into almost unrecognizable shapes. Starting off as a lone voice, he begins to harmonize with himself and then adds layers of warbling vocals until the song builds to a frenzied, backwoods R&B symphony of weirdness. It's a move that could send lots of people into fits of disbelief but strangely enough, it works – especially over headphones, where the vocals can envelope you completely. It's probably a direction Vernon won't follow, but it's an interesting experiment that keeps the record from sounding like outtakes (worthy outtakes, but outtakes all the same) from For Emma, Forever Ago.

Review by Tim Sendra, Allmusic.com

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Bon Iver - Studio Albums & EP 2008-2011 (3CD)

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Part of the beauty of Bon Iver’s debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, was the intimate, backwoods feel of the recording and the simplicity of Justin Vernon’s soaring, open wound of a voice with only minimal musical backing to distract from its impact. Even though Vernon had a few other people playing on the album, it was easy to imagine a solitary broken soul spilling his guts onto tape for hours at a time while the world went on without him. It was a truly aching, somewhat claustrophobic sound that was beautiful and unique. After a couple years in which his life was basically turned upside down thanks to the success of For Emma, Vernon’s second album is quite different. Where For Emma was stripped down and intimate, Bon Iver is packed with guest musicians, horn sections, strings, and extra vocalists. Every inch of sonic space is filled with sound, each one fighting for space and distracting from Bon Iver’s strength, namely Vernon’s vocals. It’s probably unfair to expect Vernon to replicate the sound of For Emma, but he could have found a middle ground between tender restraint and totally overdoing it. Instead, he’s working like mad to distance himself from the sound he established so well in a desperate attempt to make a “masterpiece” instead of For Emma, Pt. 2. Perhaps if he were a more skilled producer and arranger, things would have been better. Unfortunately, his style comes off more like sub-Enya with a beard than a true studio wizard. The muted, over-washed sound of the record is murky when it should be mysterious, flat when it should be 3-D, and his reliance on clichéd synth sounds is somewhat perplexing. Pity he didn’t call up his buddy Kanye for some tips. While most of the record is underwhelming sonically, the last track, "Beth/Rest," is laughable. Sounding like it was recorded using a five-dollar Casio and featuring some of the worst dueling sax/guitar solos you’d ever imagine, it shoots for a majestic, album-ending feel but instead sounds like the theme song to a horrible '80s movie about unicorns (only not that good). Despite disasters like that, there are still enough moments of tender beauty and restraint to remind you why Bon Iver is worth caring about. The relatively restrained "Wash," which pits Vernon’s aching vocal orchestra against a jagged, repeating piano line (and only minimal strings and pedal steel), the first two-thirds of "Holocene" (before the mix bursts with saxes and unnecessary effects), the simple and affecting "Michicant" (if you can ignore the distractions) – these have hints of the grace and understated emotion that made For Emma what it was. Hints aren’t enough to make the record a success, though, and by reaching too far, Vernon and Bon Iver fall flat with a huge thud. It’s a shame Vernon felt he had to take Bon Iver outside the cabin and into the world. He was doing just fine on his own and didn’t need all those people and instruments cluttering up the air. “Woods” proved that all Vernon needed to break a heart was his voice and some Auto-Tune. Though he can be praised for not just copying himself and trying to progress, to be honest, For Emma, Pt. 2 would have been far more satisfying than this overblown debacle.

Review by Tim Sendra, Allmusic.com