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TechNews | Tuesday, October 4th, 2016

Bon Iver opens up a new world on long-awaited third album “22, A Million"

Soren Spicknall
WIIT STATION MANAGE R

In the time that Bon Iver has lain
dormant, it’s clear that Justin Vernon has been
paying close attention to the masters of mod—
ern songcraft. It seems strange to say such a
thing about somebody who is often considered
a modern master in his own right, but the sen—
timent rings true: his new album, under the
moniker which birthed his fame, bears stylistic
flourishes similar to many contemporary art—
ists of note, ranging from Dan Deacon to alt—J
to Jamie xx. Combined with the cathartic, folk—
rooted songwriting style Bon Iver has embod—
ied from its debut back in 2007, this years “22,
A Million” is a statement of continued musical
progress for the project’s central figure, and a
landmark moment for the music of 2016.

When Vernon announced Bon Iver’s
hiatus in 2011, the group was still primarily
associated publicly with bedroom—scale folk
and forested landscapes. 2007’s For Emma,
Forever Ago was well documented for its wil—
derness cabin writing and recording process,
and a Midwestern sense of loneliness pervaded
much of the project’s early works. Behind the
intimate overall atmosphere of Bon Iver’s mu—
sic, though, was a full tapestry of layers that
was expanded upon the recording of Bon Iver,
Bon Iver in 2011, an album that counted col—
laborators as accomplished as experimental
saxophonist Colin Stetson among its ten ac—
companying musicians. In concert, the band
was a force that left crowds in awe, executing
the full orchestrated scale of its compositions
in beautifully—rendered live form. The ear—
worm “Skinny Love”, which initially launched
Vernon’s career, quickly became akin to Radio—
head’s “Creep”, an awkward sideshow shoved
in the middle of a much more musically ac—
complished overall picture.

At the time that Bon Iver was be—
coming more present in the world, Vernon
was experimenting with his love of the 1980s
in projects like the 22—person R&B collective
Gayngs and his own song “Best/ Rest”, and was
collaborating with artists as distinct from his
own pigeonholed style as Kanye West. He went
after high—concept arena rock with Volcano
Choir (drawn from the musicians of post—rock
group Collections of Colonies of Bees). He
produced a covers album from long—running
gospel group The Blind Boys of Alabama.
Since Bon Iver’s hiatus, he’s kept himself busy
with guest appearances (St. Vincent, Colin
Stetson, and more) and with creating a nation—

al—level annual music festival from scratch in
his hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

As if to reflect how utterly different
Vernon’s interests can be from the woodsy im—
age bestowed upon him by his own label’s mar—
keting materials back in 2007, every visual as—
pect of the new album “22, A Million” reflects
the polar opposite of the painted nature scenes
and soft tones of the past. Its cover is dominat—
ed by black, white, orange, and green, adorned
with cryptic symbols and pseudo—technolog—
ical diagrams. The album’s initial lyric videos
serve very little practical purpose, flitting in
and out of glitch—art scenes adorned with
words splayed at random across the screen.
Each song is named unpredictably, words and
numbers twisted with replacement characters
that can only be found in the high numbers
of alt— keyboard shortcuts. After five years of
rest for the name Bon Iver, this new album’s
contents reflect the changed aesthetic: after ex—
perimenting occasionally with a vocorder and
synthesizers on previous albums, Vernon has
put all his cards on the table with the most am—

 

Image courtesy of Bon Iver

bitious collection of songs his career has seen
so far. And with so much time and so much
anticipation between albums, he gambles the
project’s legacy on this release. And unreserv—
edly, “22, A Million” succeeds.

The album is brought to life fairly
quietly by the song “22 (OVER SooooN)”, a
wise sequencing choice for ongoing listeners
to the group. The first single from the album,
the piece is underpinned by a fairly classic
Bon Iver melody that would be at home on the
group’s last LP, but is upended by the inclusion
of modified vocal samples and choppy audio
artifacts that might convince a few CD buyers
that their players aren’t working properly. The
real revelation is to come, though, as the fol—
lowing composition introduces the full scale of
Bon Iver’s transformation into a truly modern
project. Titled “10 d E A T h b R E a s T |:|
|:|”, the song is more percussive than anything
else in the band’s discography, and is under—
pinned by a distorted bassline reminiscent of
Sigur Ros’s “Brennisteinn”, a piece that was as
surprising for fans of that group as this one is

for Vernon’s. It’s followed up by the intensely
minimal “715 — CRZZKS”, which consists en—
tirely of Vernon’s voice fed through a vocorder,
with harmony count and dynamic contrast re—
lied on exclusively to move the melody along.
Though that stark songwriting choice reveals
some weaknesses in Vernon’s lyrics, it stands
impressively as a musical risk for an artist who
can certainly afford not to take them.

While “22, A Million” is largely no—
table for potentially being Bon Iver’s “Kid A”
moment, redefining what the group stands for
musically, under all the electronics are many of
the same familiar faces who created the sound
that Bon Iver was known for prior to 2016. In
fact, many of the album’s tracks have fully—
orchestrated horn and string sections behind
them that could be isolated to create an album
very similar to Bon Iver, Bon Iver, most nota—
bly mid—album pair “29 #Strafford APTS” and
“666 1”. Vernon’s old banjo even makes an ap—
pearance every once in awhile, connecting all
the way back to “Skinny Love” in a context that
would probably be entirely foreign even to the
songwriter himself nine years ago. However,
when Vernon samples from a new palette of
sounds, he does so with full conviction, most
thoroughly evidenced during “21 M|:||:|N WA—
TER”, which morphs from ambiance to experi—
mentalism and serves as a long intro of sorts
for the chill—inducing crescendo of “8 (circle)”.
The latter song blends R&B sensibilities, late—
1980s soft rock instrumentation (Bruce Horn—
sby is a heavy influence of Vernon’s), and a bevy
of other elements for a concert—ready master—
piece that retains impressive artistic merit for a
song that practically begs to be shouted aloud
by 40,000 people at Vernon’s own Eaux Claires
festival.

In a rare feat, Bon Iver has managed
to reinvent itself completely naturally, without
betraying a single major element of what drew
people in to begin with. What’s more, that re—
invention stands on its own as one of the most
technically complex albums with bro ad signif—
icance this year, or perhaps even this decade.
The works on “22, A Million” are impeccably
composed, a testament to the potential of pop—
ular music to produce genuinely inspired and
meaningfully executed works. Furthermore,
the album somehow remains cohesive despite
a practical arsenal of new musical tricks, and
makes a strong case for the continuation of the
Bon Iver project for years to come. 9.9/10

Hawks Coffeehouse features "The Voice" contestant, Nelly's Echo

Reno Waswil
DISTRIBUTION MANAG ER

As the reader may know, Union
Board's fortnightly Wednesday event, Hawks
Coffeehouse, invites musical artists and poets
to perform at the MTCC Welcome Center
from 7—8 p.m., offering drinks and pastries
for the patrons. Last Wednesday, September
28, saw a rainy return to the classic Hawks
Coffeehouse style that had been experimented
with somewhat on the previous few nights.
This particular week featured artist Nelson
Emokpae of Nelly’s Echo, a touring musician
who can attribute his current notoriety to
being a contestant on season 3 of National
Broadcasting Company (NBC) ’s hit show “The
Voice.”

Emokpae’s performance was expert.
Though most of his set featured the popular
covers attendees mayhave come to expect from
events like these (such as Jason Mraz’s “I'm
Yours” and Leonard Cohen's “Hallelujah”),
much of his set had him doing unintuitive
mash—ups ofthese sorts ofsongs that might not
be expected to work together. He also would
often, sometimes in the middle of songs,
implant observations of the audience and
otherwise cheeky and spontaneous alternative
lyrics into songs for the sake of humor. Such
examples of this were his polite references
to what audience members were doing and
looked like, his traffic upset upon arriving in
the city, and where he was off to on his tour
after Illinois Tech.

His performance, along with Alien

Sound and Lighting’s, compared to past weeks:
a more stripped—down and classic sound
setup made this Hawks Coffeehouse its usual
positive and relaxing experience. It was only
made better by the catering for this week,
which featured both chocolate and raspberry
walnut biscotti. This was also the first of this
series of events this semester to feature apple
cider along with the usual coffee provisions
by Sodexo, a seasonal mainstay for the recent
autumn equinox on Thursday, September 22.
A great upset to the event, and
perhaps to many of the other events that were
planned for that Wednesday night, seemed to
have been the extensive storming and rainfall
that day. At the beginning, the usually packed
Welcome Center venue was nearly vacant, a
feature on which Emokpae couldn't help but

humorously comment. Furthermore, upon
arriving at the university, Emokpae, wishing
not to get his clothes and guitar wet, elected to
camp out in his car until the rain let up enough
for him to make a swift break for the MTCC
entrance.

By the closing however, there was a
sizable crowd of over 30 people to see the very
last few minutes of the show, and Emokpae
graciously went over his allotted time ever so
slightly to give them something for their time.

The intrigued reader is advised to
come to the next Hawks Coffeehouse featuring
musical artist “Lakin,” 7 pm. October 14th in
the MTCC Welcome Center; coffee and apple
cider will, once again, be making a welcome
appearance.

EN BEEN?“

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