Bon Iver have announced a new album called i,i. Justin Vernon and the band will release the 22, A Million follow-up on August 30 (via Jagjaguwar). Listen to “Faith” and “Jelmore” from the record below. Both tracks feature Buddy Ross, Francis Starlite, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus with Bryce Dessner, and others, according to a note on Bon Iver’s website. The album’s other guests include James Blake, Aaron Dessner, Bruce Hornsby, and Velvet Negroni.
i,i includes Bon Iver’s recent singles “Hey Ma” and “U (Man Like).”
In a press release, Vernon says i,i “feels very much like the most adult record, the most complete. It feels like when you get through all this life, when the sun starts to set, and what happens is you start gaining perspective. And then you can put that perspective into more honest, generous work.” A message on the band’s site, first previewed in a trailer, explains that the fourth record completes a cycle: “From the winter of For Emma, Forever Ago came the frenetic spring of Bon Iver, Bon Iver, and the unhinged summer of 22, A Million. Now, fall arrives early with i,i.”
The album was recorded “over a long time at April Base in Wisconsin” and finished at Sonic Ranch in Texas. The title, Vernon adds, “can mean whatever it means to you or me. It can mean deciphering and bolstering one’s identity. It can be how important the self is and how unimportant the self is, how we’re all connected.”
Tracklisting:
SIDE A
- Yi [0:31]
- iMi [3:16]
- We [2:23]
- Holyfields, [3:08)
- Hey, Ma [3:36]
- U (Man Like) [2:24]
- Naeem [4:19]
