Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver

For Emma, Forever Ago was the cabin record: Justin Vernon alone in the Wisconsin woods, turning a winter of heartbreak into indie folk legend. For the follow-up, Vernon made a deliberate choice to leave that myth behind. He built a studio in an old veterinary clinic in Fall Creek, Wisconsin, brought in a circle of gifted collaborators, and made a record as wide open as the first was closed in. Released in 2011, Bon Iver, Bon Iver debuted at number two on the Billboard 200.

Every one of its ten songs is named for a place, some real and some imagined, and together they sketch a map of memory more than geography. The solitude and longing are still there, but now they sit on a steady pulse. Military snare drums march "Perth" into being. "Holocene" is a hushed, luminous meditation on feeling small, and "Calgary" builds from synth shimmer to full-band release. Colin Stetson's saxophone, Greg Leisz's pedal steel, and Rob Moose's strings fill the arrangements with detail. The closer, "Beth/Rest," leans unashamedly into soft-rock synths and still lands as one of the most moving things Vernon has recorded.

The album won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, "Holocene" was nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, and the band took home Best New Artist. It went on to platinum certification in the US and landed near the top of countless year-end lists. It's the record where Bon Iver became a band instead of a legend.

This vinyl edition presents all ten tracks on a single LP in a gatefold jacket, the ideal format for an album meant to be heard front to back, one side at a time.