Bon Iver's long-anticipated third album, 22, A Million, drops today; and the track list looks like a search engine's worst nightmare:
01 22 (OVER S??N)
02 10 d E A T h b R E a s T ? ?
03 715 – CR??KS
04 33 “GOD”
05 29 #Strafford APTS
06 666 ?
07 21 M??N WATER
08 8 (circle)
09 ____45_____
10 00000 Million
The album artwork is equally as cryptic and the cover art features the obscured face of frontman Justin Vernon. Obscured (and un-photographed) is how Vernon prefers to be these days.
Vernon recorded the words “22, A Million, It might be over soon” into a portable sampler during “a misguided solo trip to an island off the coast of Greece.” (You can read more about the process and struggles of making the album on Bon Iver's website).
According to Vernon, he almost didn't finish the album: “I had mental stuff, stuff I felt needed healing,” he explained to theguardian.com. “And as morose or self-involved as it is, I felt that the only thing I could do was to go into myself a little bit.” Bouts of panic attacks and anxiety made the album “a grueling process to figure out.”
You can read about Vernon's struggle with fame below. Quotation above via theguardian.com. Bon Iver will be performing at Beach Goth in Santa Ana on Saturday, October 22, 2016.
—via theguardian.com
—via billboard.com
—via nytimes.com
—via theguardian.com
