Putting the music itself aside, one can tell the difference in styling by simply looking at the album artwork and song titles. However, 22, A Million, marks an atypical leap towards experimentation for Vernon.
#22 a million song symbols full
The album is full of rich arrangements and varying instruments, including a horn section and the stringed-instruments present in For Emma, as well as a collection of various electronic sounds. One of the most noticeable changes is that there is more emphasis on other band members, instead of a focus on Vernon and his guitar. Instead of an album one would categorize as completely folk, their second album moves into the realm of acoustic alternative. However, a slight change can be detected.
The band’s sophomore self-titled album, Bon Iver, Bon Iver, carries on the calming acoustic sound. Upon listening to the album, one is transported to a log cabin in the woods through the raw vocals of Vernon’s falsetto and the hypnotic strumming of stringed instruments, the most prominent of which is Vernon’s own guitar playing. The majority of For Emma was created when the band’s creator and mastermind behind their music, Justin Vernon, spent three months in a cabin in Wisconsin, writing and recording many of the songs on the album. 30, it was quite a change from the soothing, acoustic stylings of the past two albums.īon Iver first stepped onto the music scene in 2007 with their debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago. When the album was finally released on Sept. Yet even those who appreciate it might find that the release has questionable value on repeated listens.Fans of Bon Iver had been waiting five long years for the band’s third album, 22, A Million. So ultimately '22, A Million' is an artistic triumph, a creative exorcising of demons that finds the heart beating deep in the machine. However, as he struggles through his disquieting feelings in this uncomfortable environment, an improbably affecting outpouring of soul commands the atmosphere, whether in the touching angst that emerges from the oppressive manipulations of '33 'GOD'' or in the elegant eloquence that surfaces in the chaos of '8 (circle).' It's hard to understand Vernon in the combustible compression, his incongruency a match for the incongruent shifts from stately melodies to shrill abrasiveness. The sonic constructions parallel the neurotic tone, the swollen river of synths overflowing the banks and building into a nightmarish flood of sound on '21 MOON WATER,' the locomotive chug and speaker-rattling bass of '10dEAThbREasT' inducing mild panic. It's a powerful and artful concept album that captures existential explorations of anxiety and reality. That said, '22, A Million' is a natural, if giant, leap into the progressive experimentalism Vernon has been favoring over the years. There's not much trace of the alt-folk roots that delivered the breakthrough 'Skinny Love' nearly a decade ago, no dramatic cover songs like his take on 'I Can't Make You Love Me.' Even the song titles defy tradition, resembling what could be the results of a cat walking across a keyboard, striking symbols and numbers as often as letters (which are randomly upper- and lower-case).
It's OK for Bon Iver fans to feel punked by the new '22, A Million.' Justin Vernon's esoteric release completely forgoes all conventions - no verse-chorus-verse structures, no hooks, just heavy-handed and over-processed production that scuffs and obliterates his vocals.