“Apparently, i,i completes a seasonal quartet of Bon Iver albums, starting with the wintry confessions of 2008’s For Emma, Forever Ago and ending now, in autumn. Yet i,i has a brighter, more optimistic and open feel than its “summer” predecessor 22, a Million, with its often impenetrable numerology, distorted Yeezus beats and gutpunch bass. What remains from past seasons is Heavenly Father’s digita”
“There’s something in the kitsch quote, familiar only to meandering relationships and over-dramatised television, that strikes a little pertinence in the last decade’s worth of Justin Vernon’s music, at least – “it’s not what you said, it’s the way you said it!” It’s the lucidity that’s given him a free run-and-jump at inventing his own language; how he justified being both “fuckified” and the “Ast”
“On his fourth album, Justin Vernon reassembles the familiar Bon Iver elements like a cubist collage, with his voice fearlessly front and center. The result is his most honest and forthright music ever.”
“Nearly everything about Bon Iver’s excellent 2016 album 22, A Million was inscrutable: the glitchy sonic turbulence, Justin Vernon’s effects-treated vocals, song titles rendered in numbers and symbols. Though an expansive ensemble helped Vernon make 22, A Million, the tension between turmoil and vulnerability made it seem like a solitary endeavor by an artist who was trying not to be seen while fi”
“i,i may be the most complete Bon Iver album to date”
“i,i is in a sense a refinement of 22, A Million's innovations, but Justin Vernon still doesn't seem particularly interested in tying up his songs' loose ends.”
