Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon has worked with rappers before, and this time he’s gone with somebody a little less-known than Kanye West.
Singer/songwriter/producer Vernon teamed with Minneapolis rhymer Astronautalis to form an as-yet-unnamed band, along with Bon Iver drummer S. Carey and his Gayngs side-project co-collaborator Ryan Olson. The quartet hit Vernon’s Vernon’s April Base studio near Eau Claire, Wis., last week, and have already slammed out eight tracks of music.
Astronautalis — real name Andy Bothwell — said he then “freestyled for eight hours over everything,” according to an interview with City Pages. When usually combines with friend Olson, “it’s the exact opposite of how I work on my own records. I just give him tons and tons of material. He takes it back to his house, and dangles a cigarette out of his mouth, and works for hours on end.”
Fans’ expectations of the end result should remain just as flexible.
“A lot of my fans are like, ‘Oh this is going to be amazing: Astronautalis rapping and Justin singing choruses.’ It’s not going to be that,” Bothwell stresses. “I’m sure that all of Justin’s fans are going to be like ‘Oh, it’s a new Bon Iver record and there’s these other guys.’ Everyone’s fans respectively are going to expect certain things.”
There has been no mention of release date or album name; Astro is unsigned, while Vernon’s work with Bon Iver is out through Jagjaguwar.
There hasn’t been much movement from the Gayngs camp since Coachella last year (about this time in April). He had also Tweeted earlier this year that he intended to work on another Volcano Choir record. He produced girlfriend Kathleen Edwards’ “Voyageur” album, released this year.
S. Carey is releasing another solo set, an EP “Hoyas,” on May 8.