One of the benefits of living in China is the free streaming music services… and it just so happens that Tencent’s QQ Music has Bon Iver‘s new album before its scheduled release on September 30… huzzah!
Other posts featuring Bon Iver:
【音乐】”Skinny Love” – Who sang it better? 谁唱的更好听?
【MV】Francis and the Lights《Friends》w/ Justin Vernon & Kanye West
Album cover
Titled 22, A Million, Justin Vernon and band have waited 5 whole years since their previous award-winning masterpiece, Bon Iver, Bon Iver. They debuted this new album in its entirety at their own music festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin last month.
After the show NPR Music had this to say of 22, A Million:
This music represents another huge leap in Bon Iver’s music. Gone is the Silvertone guitar; in fact, it’s often tough to pick out more than a smattering of guitar in these songs. Gone, too, is the steady drum beat, and there’s barely a thread of folk music’s acoustic intimacy. It’s going on 10 years since For Emma, Forever Ago, and in that time, Bon Iver has filled the spaces in its sound with stimulation and surprise, as Vernon’s voice is digitized and distorted, sometimes beyond recognition — the effects often obscure the words, at least on first listen. This is “sit down and listen” music. There’s nothing casual here, and having spent time with it, I’m loving the sonic rewards.
Say what you will about autotune and/or falsettos, Bon Iver knows how to use them.
Here are two of their lyric videos… Have a listen and let us know what you think!
“33 GOD”
10 dEAThbREasT
To hear the whole album, search for “Bon Iver – 22, A Million” in your streaming music app and don’t forget to purchase it for yourself next week! On vinyl, preferrably.