Justin Vernon, mastermind behind Bon Iver, thrives in places where nobody is watching him. Seclusion has always played a large part in the creation of Vernon’s music, dating back to his first album under the Bon Iver moniker, "For Emma Forever Ago," which he wrote alone in the cold, snowy woods in a Northeastern Wisconsin cabin. The album’s cover represents the frozen landscape that Vernon inhabited in late 2007 and alludes to the album’s cold and lonely nature.
Bon Iver’s excellent release "22, A Million" is his first since 2011’s similarly incredible and Grammy winning “Bon Iver, Bon Iver,” was also created with Vernon in isolation. However, this time Vernon had to escape the spotlight in order to make something totally new for the band.
In the first two years since the last album, Vernon guested on albums for Kanye West, providing multiple vocal tracks on 2012’s "Yeezus," recorded albums with two other bands (The Shouting Matches and Volcano Choir) and even stated that he thought Bon Iver may be “winding down” for good. It was this feeling of being stretched too thin that made Vernon seemingly go silent but quietly return to the project that has brought him fame.
Where "For Emma" felt as if Vernon was alone with his emotions, and Bon Iver felt as if he’d been left alone in a room full of instruments, "22, A Million" feels like Vernon reeled away from the spotlight and begin creating samples, making and breaking beats and sounds, but each step feels like growth.
Where the cold and jagged acoustic guitar of "For Emma" was replaced by the lush instrumentals of Bon Iver, "22, A Million" strips away the grandiose beauty of the last album, with Vernon instead focusing on electronic rhythms, samples and chopped beats that flutter in and out under his signature falsetto.
The album begins with the thin and repetitious but also triumphant keyboard notes of "22 (OVER S∞∞N)," and yes, those are definitely infinity symbols, each song has a crazy name. A track that creeps along with Vernon’s vocals floating over electronic samples before guitars and beautifully harmonized vocals enter near the middle of the track, chanting the titular numbers.
It’s a song that represents Vernon’s ability to mix that which sounds ridged and broken with truly gorgeous melody and harmony, a feat that he exercises over and over again on the "Yeezus-inspired," "33 “GOD,”" the country twang of "29 #Strafford APTS," the intense auto-tuning of “715 - CRΣΣKS" and the airy ambiance of "21 M♢♢N WATER."
However, the album’s standout track is definitely “8 (circle).” Although it is the most straight-forward track on the record, it is too gorgeous not to become engulfed in. With its bouncing keyboard chords, echoing percussion and a vocal track that lightly glides of the instrumental, proves that Justin Vernon truly has an ear for beauty.
Overall "22, A Million" is a quiet, but triumphant album. It is one that both feels cracked and thin, but also tight and thoughtful and is an offering from one of music’s true chameleons.
