Bon Iver, Bon Iver

Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Critic Score
Based on 41 reviews
2011 Ratings: #10 / 1031
Year End Rank: #2
User Score
2011 Rank: #11
Liked by 445 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Guardian

Whether exploring supple R&B in Minnesota, WI, joyful country in Towers, or swollen soft-rock in Beth/Rest, Bon Iver remains rooted in the emotional sincerity that made Vernon's debut so mesmerising.

100
Evening Standard
If his last album struck a chord, this one strikes dozens.
100
Uncut

Fully realised in its ambition, Bon Iver possesses all the austere beauty and understated emotiveness of its predecessor.

100
NOW Magazine

The 10 unconventionally structured songs are less shaky-tent-in-a-snowstorm and more ambitious-skyscraper-blasting-into-the sky.

100
The Skinny

In facing great expectations, Vernon has simply turned and walked away from the legacy of his debut; rather than attempt to emulate the intimate cabin fever of that album, he has crafted an expansive and ambitious piece – a compelling listen from start to finish.

100
The Arts Desk
Heโ€™s a master of the climax, building waves of euphoria as uplifting as anything from the pop of the last 50 years.
100
God Is in the TV

Justin Vernon may have just bettered what is already considered a classic debut album. This is a glorious, daring record that deserves to be huge.

95
Pitchfork

After the closeness and austerity of For Emma, Vernon has given us a knotty record that resists easy interpretation but is no less warm or welcoming.

91
A.V. Club

For all its introspection, Bon Iver feels a lot more open than Vernon’s previous work, the sound of a lonely guy taking his first steps into a larger world.

91
Entertainment Weekly

An emboldened Vernon achieves a beautiful fantasy all his own, backed by a full band and buoyed with horns and pedal steel.

91
Pretty Much Amazing

As Vernon himself admits, this record is a sounds-first album, leading with the how rather than the what. While not a complete sea change, it’s a new approach for Vernon, who finds his Bon Iver project graced with both the tools and the audience for such an approach.

90
Consequence of Sound

The album is a shoo-in for being a timeless great, no matter what we say.

90
Sputnikmusic

The entire album is a collaborative project ... yet each song acts like a personal journal entry, documenting Justin Vernon’s experience back with the living, after being with the ghosts of memory for some time.

90
Paste

It retains the beautiful melancholy of For Emma, but in nearly every way, it’s just more. More layered, more diverse, more interesting.

87
Beats Per Minute

It’s a rich and intricate collage that shows restraint in its cascade of ideas as well as Vernon’s maturity as a songwriter.

85
Coke Machine Glow

Bon Iver, Bon Iver is wrought using a dazzling pointillism. Producer Vernon has carefully studded his album with thousands of cul-de-sacs of grace and poise and lavishly attended precision.

80
Prefix

It is, upon first listen, an undeniably beautiful record. But how that beauty was created takes some time to figure out. You need to dive in and untangle these tightly woven parts. You have to weave through the layered vocals to get at the emotional core of these songs.

80
The Telegraph
Justin Vernon's second album consolidates his transition to major player with a degree of inventiveness and creative confidence that suggests there was nothing accidental about his original success.
80
The Observer

Vernon's focus has widened but his strange siren song is just as alluring.

80
Gigwise
And weep you shall because this second effort is every bit as overwhelming as its predecessor. In a remarkable twist of fate, Justin Vernon has proved he has the chops to make the world fall for him twice. Turns out heโ€™s a bit of a lothario after all.
80
Record Collector

90 per cent of Bon Iver is about music that moves the listener, and does so while moving the medium confidently forward. No mean feat.

80
Q Magazine
The Wisconsin outsider stretches horizons on mesmeric second album.
80
Mojo
Bon Iver's musical palette is a far broader, full blown band affair.
80
The Irish Times

Vernon never compromises, and Bon Iver was never going to be For Emma Part 2. It's a work of imagination, even if you can't stop thinking of Karate Kid II when the album ends.

80
Drowned in Sound

Justin Vernon and his crew have changed things up here for sure, but the results are every bit as beautiful as you might expect.

80
Clash

It makes these ten tracks slightly less immediate, but just as moving. A wonderful, worthy follow-up.

80
Alternative Press

The project is no longer shackled to the minimal, one-man strum of For Emma, but it's all the more beautiful and heart-rending. 

80
Slant Magazine

For much of Bon Iver, Vernon takes his cues from Volcano Choir, using an array of disparate instrumentation and looping effects to beautifully eerie effect.

80
American Songwriter

Vernon’s taken the ingredients that made For Emma transcend its bedroom folkie origins and fly – the hushed, multi-tracked falsetto vocals, the indelible melodies, the evocative, heartbroken lyrics – and expanded upon them.

80
Under the Radar

It's a logical progression from Emma, and one that few artists have been able to make. Most try to return to their wallowing, to mine the same material that connected them with their audience in the first place. But Vernon deserves tremendous credit for wanting to express his hope and his joy.

80
No Ripcord

Bon Iver embarks on a sustainable new direction for the band and is evidence of a successful transition from one-off wonder to durable outfit.

80
SPIN

Vernon re-accesses that potent sense of self on Bon Iver, a stunning sophomore set whose landscape-painting cover art underscores the idea that his songs inhabit their own psychological space.

80
musicOMH

Those who approach Bon Iver with open minds and open ears will with repeated listens find that Vernon has not strayed too far from his original raison d'etre.

80
Tiny Mix Tapes

It is undeniably an album about “growth,” and it has a way of pushing you out of your comfort zone.

75
The 405

It is still a very good album, with some pretty songs, but it lacks For Emma, Forever Ago's sense of balance – of completeness.

70
Rolling Stone

The ideas on Bon Iver — Colin Stetson's shimmery horn parts, Rob Moose's elegant arrangements — are engaging even when they don't lead anywhere, and the music is beautiful, even when it veers into schmaltz.

70
Spectrum Culture

Bon Iver represents the full, sweeping scale of what Vernon intended in the first place, this time with his touring band in tow.

70
NME

Those looking for the raw catharsis of ‘For Emma…’ will need to cop their misery fix elsewhere – ‘Bon Iver’ is the sound of a man making peace with the world, saxophones and all.

60
The Needle Drop

Just because we've got a ton of new sounds doesn't mean they've been arranged or mixed all that well.

60
PopMatters

Despite its hype, its expectations, its blown up sound, and its many production flourishes, Bon Iver is nothing more than a solid placeholder album.

50
AllMusic

Though he can be praised for not just copying himself and trying to progress, to be honest, For Emma, Pt. 2 would have been far more satisfying than this overblown debacle.

Torrance
100

I gave this thing a 93 originally. I'm continuing my project of going through the 9s that I figured I'd change my score for. Bon Iver is the 33rd or so and I haven't heard it in a while. This was such an incredibly pleasant surprise that I took my guitar out and sight read the entirety of the chords on this album and played along the entire 39 minutes.

The indie-folk era was an incredibly era for popular music, with alt-j, fun., Animal Collective and most importantly: Bon Iver. Bon Iver shed ... read more

KIDWITHGUNs
91

Probably the most impressive, mythical and imaginative folk record I've ever heard.

KaitoNkmra
100

[PERFECT ALBUM REVIEW #2: Bon Iver (2012)]

Bon Iver’s self-titled record is the warm, blossoming spring that follows the cold, isolated winter of 2007’s “For Emma, Forever Ago”. While that record showed what Justin Vernon was capable of with a guitar and a few other instruments, his 2012 follow up displays a newfound confidence, showcasing what he can do with a plethora of instrumentals as a full band.

Expanding on the foundations that were built with their debut, the ... read more

Agile6
98

Beth/Rest of one of the greatest gifts to man. Fantastic album.

AnotherWhiteMan
90

White man approved.

beechoo
100

this is nothing short of a masterpiece, personally i think it’s bon ivers best work. i love every song on here so much and its aged perfectly.

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Track List

1Perth
4:22
95
2Minnesota, WI
3:52
91
3Holocene
5:36
96
4Towers
3:08
92
5Michicant
3:45
89
6Hinnom, TX
2:45
83
7Wash.
4:58
90
8Calgary
4:10
88
9Lisbon, OH
1:33
81
10Beth / Rest
5:16
90
Total Length: 39 minutes
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