''I, I'' (stylized as ''i,i'') is the fourth studio album by American
indie folk
Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Indie folk hybridizes the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation.
The genre has its ...
band
Bon Iver
Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon.
Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, ''For Emma, Forever Ago,'' independently in July 2007. The majority of the album was recorded while Vernon ...
. It was released track by track per hour on August 8, 2019; the intro only being available on the Bon Iver fan
subreddit
Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...
until August 9, when the album was released properly on all services, with a physical release to follow on August 30. The album was preceded by the singles "
Hey, Ma" and "U (Man Like)", and the tracks "Faith" and "Jelmore" were released alongside the album pre-order. ''I, I'' features contributions from
James Blake,
Aaron Dessner
Aaron Brooking Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as a founding member of the rock band the National, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums; a co-founder of the indie ...
,
Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical traditions ...
,
Moses Sumney
Moses Sumney is a Ghanaian-American singer-songwriter. His self-recorded EP, ''Mid-City Island'', was released in 2014. He released another five-song EP in 2016, titled ''Lamentations''. His first full-length album, ''Aromanticism'', was released ...
, and
Channy Leaneagh, among others.
The album was nominated for
Best Recording Package
The Grammy Award for Best Recording Package is one of a series of Grammy Awards presented for the visual look of an album. It is presented to the art director of the winning album, not to the performer(s), unless the performer is also the art dire ...
,
Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to:
Awards
* ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia
* Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK
* Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US
* Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA
* Lati ...
and
Best Alternative Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Ho ...
at the
62nd Annual Grammy Awards
The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Al ...
, as well as
Record of the Year
The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...
for the song "Hey, Ma".
Background
The project was first teased during an
Instagram Live
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be ...
broadcast by
Justin Vernon
Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the primary songwriter and frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. Known for his distinct falsetto voic ...
's personal account, in which he revealed a snippet of the song previously known as "We Maddie Parry" (later shortened to "We") and showed a song list with working titles. After the band's show at All Points East 2019, they premiered two new songs; U (Man Like) and Hey, Ma, which were released as singles next day, as well as dates for the fall 2019 tour. On July 11, they announced that their fourth album, "i,i" would be released on August 30 (later moved to August 9) and released the third and fourth singles, "Jelmore" and "Faith".
The band likened the album to the season of
fall
Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March (Souther ...
, with ''I, I'' completing a cycle that began with the "winter" of ''
For Emma, Forever Ago
''For Emma, Forever Ago'' is the debut studio album by American indie folk band Bon Iver. It was first self-released in July 2007, and later saw wide release on the Jagjaguwar label in February 2008. The album is principally the work of singer-son ...
'' (2007), followed by "the frenetic spring of ''
Bon Iver, Bon Iver
''Bon Iver'' (; officially known as ''Bon Iver, Bon Iver'') is the second studio album from American indie folk band Bon Iver, released on June 17, 2011. The album is composed of 10 songs and was seen as a new musical direction for the band.
Th ...
'' (2011), and the unhinged summer of ''
22, A Million
''22, A Million'' is the third studio album by American indie folk band Bon Iver, released on September 30, 2016. Recorded in lead member Justin Vernon's April Base studio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the album marks a major shift in the band's soun ...
'' (2016)". Vernon additionally described the album as "very much like the most adult record, the most complete" and "more honest, generous work". The album was recorded over an extended period of time at April Base in Wisconsin, and was completed at
Sonic Ranch
Sonic Ranch, in the border town of Tornillo, Texas, is the world's largest residential recording studio complex. There are five studios designed by Vincent Van Haaff on a pecan orchard, which borders the Rio Grande and Mexico. Located east of ...
in Texas. On July 31, 2019, the band released a
documentary short called ''Bon Iver: Autumn'', featuring Vernon and bandmates discussing the new album and aspects of the upcoming Autumn 2019 tour. To promote the album, listening parties took place on August 7 in several countries.
On August 8, without prior announcement, eight of the album's nine remaining songs were released digitally (one each hour) and the ninth, "
Yi", was posted on
Reddit
Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...
. This was followed by the band moving the album's digital release date three weeks forward to August 9, with the physical release on August 30.
Music
A number of publications have considered its sound to be a merger of the musical elements of Bon Iver's previous three albums,
with Chris DeVille of ''
Stereogum
''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine.
''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...
'' considering it the first of their albums "that sounds more familiar than new."
Its production includes acoustic guitars,
horns Horns or The Horns may refer to:
* Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells
* The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain
* ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...
, piano,
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
s,
woodwind
Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed ...
, organ and interwoven voices along with "jittery electronics," "otherworldly beats, whispering
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...
and fragmentary structures."
Music journalists have noted its electronic and
experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...
features reminiscent of those found on ''
22, A Million
''22, A Million'' is the third studio album by American indie folk band Bon Iver, released on September 30, 2016. Recorded in lead member Justin Vernon's April Base studio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the album marks a major shift in the band's soun ...
'', but note that it has been used more sparingly than on the aforementioned album, with ''
DIY
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...
'' writer opining that it "
rovidesthe foundation for the record’s truly big moments."
Critical reception
''I, I'' received acclaim from critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, ''I, I'' has an average score of 80 based on 33 reviews.
Hannah Mylrea of ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' gave the album a perfect score, considering it "pieced
..in an impossibly intelligent way."
''DIY'' writer Ben Tipple also gave it full marks, dubbing it "an emotional tour-de-force that displays an unparalleled understanding of the power of music," further praising its "masterful delicacy" and sparing use of electronic experimentation.
''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' awarded it the "Best New Music" accolade, with editor Matthew Strauss calling it the band's "most honest and forthright music ever"; he additionally noted Vernon's vocal performance, considering that he "sings with more texture and conviction than ever before."
Damien Morris of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' hailed it as "complex and majestic," saying that "''i,i'' spins a mesmerising web of superficially insubstantial yet intensely majestic music."
Some critics had their reservations. Chase McMullen of ''
The 405'' deemed the album underwhelming, considering it to be inferior to the band's previous work, he noted that they are "doing the things they know well," and that while "at times, this can work in ''i,i''
's favor,
..it can feel a bit limited and complacent."
Ben Beaumont-Thomas named it Bon Iver's "first ever misfire" in his assessment for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', lamenting its "weak melodies and bad poetry."
In a mixed review for ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', Jazz Monroe described it as an "exquisite album that is otherwise frustratingly apolitical."
Writing for ''
No Depression'', John Amen concluded, "''i,i'' is, relatively speaking, a fine album. It may even end up being one of 2019’s notable sets. Still, it’s the least magical of Vernon’s tetralogy."
Track listing
Samples
* "Naeem" incorporates elements of "That Storm", performed by Naeem, and "More Love", written by
Gary Nicholson and
Tim O'Brien, and performed by Tim O'Brien.
* "Sh'Diah" incorporates elements of "Waves" performed by
Velvet Negroni
4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" (after the Hendrix album) by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD af ...
.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the band's official website.
Bon Iver
*
Sean Carey – drums, piano, voice
* Matt McCaughan – drums, synthesis
* Andrew Fitzpatrick – synthesis, guitar
*
Michael Lewis
Michael Monroe Lewis (born October 15, 1960) Gale Biography In Context. is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to '' Vanity Fair'' since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. H ...
– bass guitar, synthesizers, saxophone
*
Justin Vernon
Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the primary songwriter and frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. Known for his distinct falsetto voic ...
– guitar, bass guitar, synthesizers, voice; radio
Featuring:
*
Jenn Wasner
Jennifer Lynn Wasner (born April 16, 1986) is an American musician from Baltimore, Maryland. Wasner is best known as one of the founding members of the band Wye Oak, along with Andy Stack. They have performed on tour with notable bands such as ...
– guitar, synthesizers, voice; chorus
*
Rob Moose
Rob Moose (born 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, conductor, and orchestrator. He primarily plays the violin, viola, and guitar.
Early life and education
Moose was born in 1982. He was raised in Windsor, Connect ...
– violin , viola , octave viola , piano , string arrangements , all "Worm Crew" arrangements
Worm Crew – horns
*
Rob Moose
Rob Moose (born 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, conductor, and orchestrator. He primarily plays the violin, viola, and guitar.
Early life and education
Moose was born in 1982. He was raised in Windsor, Connect ...
– conducting
*
CJ Camerieri
CJ Camerieri (born in New Jersey) is a trumpet and french horn player, arranger, and producer. Camerieri is best known as the brass player for Paul Simon, Bon Iver, and the contemporary classic ensemble yMusic. His extensive discography is highli ...
– trumpet, flugelhorn, french horn
* Michael Lewis – tenor and soprano saxophones
* Hideaki Aomori – clarinets, alto saxophone
* Tim Albright – trombone
* Randy Pingrey – trombone
* Ross Garren – harmonicas
Additional musicians
* Trever Hagen – barn , shoes , slides , prepared trumpet f.
*
Wheezy
Wesley Tyler Glass (born October 26, 1992), known professionally as Wheezy, is an American record producer and songwriter. He has worked with artists such as Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, Lil Baby, Future, King Von, 21 Savage, Gunna (rapper), Gunna ...
– drum programming , programming
*
James Blake – Prophet 600 , vocals
* Mike Noyce – vocals
*
Jeremy Nutzman a.k.a. Velvet Negroni – vocals
*
Camilla Staveley-Taylor
The Staves are an English indie folk trio of sisters Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor from Watford, Hertfordshire, England.
Career
The Staves began performing together at open-mic nights in Watford hosted by a local pub, The Horns. ...
– vocals , distorted vocals
*
Aaron Dessner
Aaron Brooking Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as a founding member of the rock band the National, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums; a co-founder of the indie ...
– piano , guitar
*
BJ Burton
BJ Burton is an American record producer, songwriter, engineer, and mixer. He is known for his work with Bon Iver, Francis and the Lights, Low, Charli XCX, and The Japanese House, and has also worked with the likes of Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, ...
– programming , arrangement , TR 8's
*
Buddy Ross
Buddy Ross (born Josiah Sherman; March 4, 1983) is an American record producer, musical artist, keyboard player, songwriter, engineer and mixer. He is best known for his work with Frank Ocean, having worked across Ocean's critically acclaimed albu ...
– synthesizer , Messina , piano ,
Wurlitzer
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...
* Joe Rainey, Sr. – vocals
* Michael Migizi Sullivan, Sr. – vocals
*
Phil Cook – piano , B3 , voice
* Zach Hanson – piano , keyboards ,
Juno
Juno commonly refers to:
*Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods
*Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007
Juno may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters
*Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno''
*Ju ...
* Brad Cook – synthesizer , basses , Folktek Modified
Omnichord
The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate known as "Sonic Strings", preset rhythms, auto-bass line functionality, and buttons for ma ...
* Chris Messina – synthesizer
*
Ben Lester – CP-70 electric piano
*
Psymun
Simon Christensen, better known by his stage name Psymun, is an American record producer based in Minnesota. He was a member of Thestand4rd alongside Allan Kingdom, Bobby Raps, and Corbin.
Early life and education
Christensen graduated from Sai ...
– sampling
* Brian Moen – drums
* Jake Luppen – guitar
*
Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical traditions ...
– piano , voice
* Elsa Jensen – voice
*
Moses Sumney
Moses Sumney is a Ghanaian-American singer-songwriter. His self-recorded EP, ''Mid-City Island'', was released in 2014. He released another five-song EP in 2016, titled ''Lamentations''. His first full-length album, ''Aromanticism'', was released ...
– voice
* Brooklyn Youth Chorus – chorus
*
Bryce Dessner
Bryce David Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is an American composer and guitarist based in Paris, as well as a member of the rock band the National. Dessner's twin brother Aaron is also a member of the group. Together they write the music, in coll ...
– chorus , piano
* Toni Pierce-Sands – claps
* Christian Warner – voice
* Graham Tolbert – voice
* Noah Goldstein – programming
*
Francis Starlite
Francis and the Lights is an American pop project led by Francis Farewell Starlite. The term "and the Lights" refers both to the lights on a stage and pixels on a computer screen.
Starlite often uses the Francis and the Lights name when credit ...
– Buchla
* Sad Sax of Shit – saxophones
* Joe Westerlund – shaker
* JT Bates – drums
*
Jeremy Ylvisaker
Jeremy Ylvisaker is a multi-instrumentalist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a member of the indie rock bands Alpha Consumer and The Cloak Ox.
Career
He is a member of Alpha Consumer along with Michael Lewis and JT Bates. The band has released ...
– electric guitar
Technical
* Chris Messina – production, engineering, mixing
* Brad Cook – production
* Justin Vernon – production
* Zach Hanson – engineering, mixing
* Marta Salogni – additional engineering
* Jerry Ordonez – assistant engineering, additional mixing
* Zac Hernandez – assistant engineering
* Alli Rogers – assistant engineering
*
Rob Moose
Rob Moose (born 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, conductor, and orchestrator. He primarily plays the violin, viola, and guitar.
Early life and education
Moose was born in 1982. He was raised in Windsor, Connect ...
– string arrangements engineering
*
Greg Calbi
Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey.
Biography
Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bisho ...
– mastering
*
BJ Burton
BJ Burton is an American record producer, songwriter, engineer, and mixer. He is known for his work with Bon Iver, Francis and the Lights, Low, Charli XCX, and The Japanese House, and has also worked with the likes of Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, ...
– production , additional production , additional engineering , mixing
* Trever Hagen – additional production , additional engineering
* Andrew Sarlo – additional production , additional engineering
* Wheezy – additional production
* TU Dance – additional production
* Buddy Ross – additional production
*
Ryan Olson – additional production
* Josh Berg – additional engineering
* Wayne Pooley – additional engineering
* Bella Blasko – additional engineering
* Noah Goldstein – additional engineering
Artwork and release
* Andra Chumas – executive production
* Eric Timothy Carlson – art, direction
* Aaron Anderson – art, direction
* Graham Tolbert – photography
* TU Dance – dance movement and visuals
**Toni Pierce-Sands
**Uri Sands
**Taylor Collier – dancing
**Jacob Lewis – dancing
**Alexander Pham – dancing
**Randall Riley – dancing
**Alexis Staley – dancing
**Christian Warner – dancing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
{{Authority control
2019 albums
Albums produced by Justin Vernon
Bon Iver albums
Jagjaguwar albums
Albums recorded at Sonic Ranch