The Daily Spin, February 24
Bon Iver | 22, A Million
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: 22, A Million (2016)
Artist: Bon Iver
Link:
The third studio album from Bon Iver is a monumental effort. In tying together discordant noise, Justin Vernon explores many of the themes instrumentally that the lyrics of his work lay bare – questions bearing heavy on the soul, themes touching on the nature of life and many of the more serious thoughts that may cross a mind.
The album itself is a deviation – Vernon’s previous works, 2011’s self-titled effort and 2008’s For Emma, Forever Ago are hallmarks in their own right, but hold to a distinctly different archetype in many respects – and while there are shadows of this record in those that came before – “Woods” comes to mind – the vast majority of this album seems a step into the unknown, a sonic expansion of the genre. The influences of this album are vast and many – far from me to determine what parallels can and cannot be drawn, but above all, it seems clear that this record is truly its own.
There are a variety of religious themes evoked here – from 33 “GOD” to 666, but indeed in the smaller details as well – Psalm 22 makes an appearance in the by-lines, and references to ‘communion’ and ‘consecration’ are unlikely to go unnoticed.
22, A Million opens with “22 (OVER SOON)”, a yearning search of a song – a pulsing singular note to back the tuned falsetto Vernon employs so often on this record. More than any other track on the record, it embodies much of what this album is – a series of questions needing answers. Even as the voice fades to let a lonely saxophone produce its call, the pulse continues, and the sense of want maintains throughout the song and indeed through the record.
Though “22 (OVER SOON)” provides the illusion of a dreamier record, that is quickly shattered by “10 d E A T h b R E a s T”, a track that rings almost violent at times with scratchy broken synths providing a near-machinated sound to the record – and while the synthetic nature of much of this song isn’t unusual, particularly for this album, it’s the manner in which the record utilizes it that is.
“715 CREEKS” and “8 (circle)” are the shining examples of this, I believe. Synths and tuning are generally provided to more accurate pin the voice into place – Vernon’s ability to make that function into a vehicle for emotion is stunning when placed well – and the final line of 715 (“goddamn, turn around now, you’re my A team”) highlights this beautifully, a painfully grasping lyric that frames the sentence as a parting shot of sorts. 8 approaches this differently, but to no less success – with the verses providing gentle but sweepingly emotional statements, turning rather mundane words into surprisingly powerful little quips.
____45_____ handles a vaguely brass background under Vernon’s lyrics – and while most of the album to this point is beautiful for its ability to make sense of discordance, this song instead is beautiful in that there is less of that noise and more structure. It’s an excellent proving point to show that Vernon is as versatile as ever – from an instrumentalist to his work as a vocalist.
00000 Million closes the album almost as a mirrored face to 22 (OVER SOON) – fitting, I suppose, given the title. It is the same keyboard under a tuned version of Vernon’s voice, though there is a bit more dimension to the ending track. Sampling Irish poet Fionn Regan with “the days have no numbers”, it’s a haunting finish to an outstanding work – even the last lines, truly, echo of a sentiment seen evident throughout the album, of acceptance, questioning, and the grand scheme.
22, A Million found itself at the crux of a new beginning, not only for Justin Vernon, not only for Bon Iver, but for the indie/folk music scene writ large. It is not absolute perfection – the middle band of songs I tire of at times, though only after repeated exposure – though this begs the question, too, of what makes perfection? I feel as though I could point to this album, in many ways, as an answer to that question – for it is rare that I come across a piece of music so complete in every facet. In searching for the answers to life, Vernon and his crew seem to have found something else entirely.
Rating: 10.0/10
Best Tracks: 22 (OVER SOON), 8 (circle), ____45_____, 33 “GOD”
Worst Tracks: n/a