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Bon Iver
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Bon Iver is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by the singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It began as a solo project and later became a band with, among others, Sean Carey, Michael Lewis and Jenn Wasner. The name comes from French, bon hiver, good winter, and is taken from a greeting in the TV series Northern Exposure.
Music and breakthrough
After the break-up of his band DeYarmond Edison, the end of a relationship and an illness, Vernon returned to Wisconsin. At the end of 2006 he withdrew for several months to a cabin belonging to his father. There, without a plan, came the album For Emma, Forever Ago, which he released independently in July 2007. He played all the instruments himself and treated the songs with many overdubs. He wrote the lyrics to the sound of syllables in a melody without words.
Influence
The second album Bon Iver, Bon Iver won a Grammy for best alternative album in 2012. Then followed 22, a Million in 2016, i,i in 2019, which was nominated for album of the year, and SABLE, fABLE in 2025. The sound is soft and intimate, with a high falsetto voice, acoustic guitar and layered vocals. Bon Iver showed how a bedroom recording made in isolation could grow into a worldwide indie folk classic.
Listening
Skinny Love · Bon Iver, 2007Apple Music ↗
Discography
Studio albums
- 2007For Emma, Forever Ago
- 2011Bon Iver, Bon Iver
- 201622, a Million
- 2019II
- 2025SABLE, fABLE
Mentioned in other articles
- Indiefolk Genre
Bon Iver recorded his first album in a hunting cabin in Wisconsin, and Mumford & Sons of London made the banjo and the mandolin popular at big festivals.