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Bon Iver and Justin Vernon have had a pretty busy fall. At Vernon’s Wisconsin festival Eaux Claires the band played their first live set in three years, debuted several new songs, and soon after that announced a new album 22, A million.
That record comes out this Friday, and though we’ve already heard “8 (circle)” live on Fallon, today Bon Iver has shared the official version via Annie Mac’s radio show. The track is above.
Fans of Vernon’s signature falsetto will find plenty of that here, along with a burst of horns and the infamous, glitchy blown-out folk that made this band one of the most influential in the last couple years. If you’re particularly moved by the saxophone here, you owe that to a handful of brass musicians, but most notably Colin Stetson, a touring member of Arcade Fire who also does his own solo experimental work as a saxophonist.
Although there’s been very little press surrounding the album release, our own Steven Hyden did get the opportunity to attend a press conference in Vernon’s native Wisconsin and offered his analysis of what may be the band’s greatest record to date.
Vernon doesn’t do a lot of interviews, but during one he did with The Guardian that was published this weekend, the folk singer discussed his distaste for Beyonce’s Pepsi deal, a head-scratching thing to bring up, and a stance that other musicians pointed out may be slightly hypocritical. Distract yourself from that ruckus by how f*cking great the new song is.
