Bon Iver: Justin Vernon’s Home-felt Pioneering of the Indie Folk Genre
By Kelly Moran
If you have ever stepped foot inside of a boho and buzzing coffee shop, you have experienced the soothing sounds of the Indie Folk genre. Characterized by airy acoustic guitar melodies and emotionally loaded lyrics, it has captured the attention of music lovers everywhere.
While there are many talented Indie Folk musicians with impressive catalogs, Bon Iver stands as one of the genre’s greatest pioneers. The group has reached tremendous heights since its founding 14 years ago. They have headlined major festivals, such as Outsidelands in 2018, toured across Europe, and even launched their first-ever arena tour in 2019 following the release of their 4th album, “i, i.”
Bon Iver is also incredibly accomplished in the world of streaming, with nearly 12 million monthly listeners and well over a billion streams on Spotify alone, not to mention prominent features on some of the service’s most trafficked editorial playlists. Led by frontman and songwriter Justin Vernon, this American Indie Folk band has rightfully become a glowing touchstone within the music world, defining and popularizing Indie Folk to what we know it as and love today.
While Bon Iver is certainly Vernon’s most successful musical endeavor yet, he has been a member of multiple projects throughout his lengthy career. A few years before Bon Iver’s inception, Vernon resided in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his band, DeYarmond Edison, named after Vernon’s two middle names. However, he struggled, both physically and mentally, and decided to leave the band, break up with his then-girlfriend, and move back home to Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
To say that Vernon has a fondness for Eau Claire is a significant understatement. He has never strayed too far from home. After graduating from Memorial High School in Eau Claire, he attended the Eau Claire campus of the University of Wisconsin, majoring in Religious Studies and minoring in Women’s Studies. His time away was both brief and regretted, and he was relieved upon returning home to Eau Claire.
Once home, Vernon relocated to his family’s cabin in the woods of northern Wisconsin. The cabin, built by his father in 1979, stands on an 80 acre stretch of wisping aspen trees and wildlife. Vernon describes it as “a little alpine-style, timber-frame cabin, used to just have a dirt floor, but the last few years [his] dad made it … maybe too nice… But there’s still that ancient vibe, because you’re so far away from everything,” (Barton).
Though the cabin he describes is quaint, the music it inspired is anything but.
Vernon’s relocation became a 4-month extended stay during the cold, winter months of 2006 and 2007. He became inspired to write and record his masterpiece, “For Emma, Forever Ago,” released in 2008 with his newly formed band, Bon Iver. In an interview with Laura Barton of The Guardian, Vernon credits the vast and bosky winter landscape of Wisconsin for inciting “a lot of ideas — ideas that [he] already had, but that [he] needed help with strengthening,” (Barton). The album, so hauntingly beautiful, hybridizes delicate and quivering acoustic strumming with the spell-binding ebb and flow of Vernon’s cavernous falsetto. The lyrics, loaded with natural imagery and eerie wordplay, exude such an intimate sense of isolation and sadness that they alone will move you to tears. It comes as no surprise that the album quickly found its way into the hearts of thousands.
Following the overwhelmingly positive reception of “For Emma, Forever Ago,” Bon Iver released their self-titled sophomore album, “Bon Iver,” in 2011. Because it was such an immediate success, the album received “Best Alternative Album” and secured Bon Iver the highly coveted “Best New Artist” award at the 2012 GRAMMY Awards. This achievement, along with the international recognition garnered by both albums, launched Bon Iver into the prestigious upper echelon of total musical acclaim.
The root of Bon Iver’s success: Justin Vernon’s pure admiration of his beloved home.
Had Vernon not returned to Eau Claire and locked himself away in that cabin, the inspiration that found him would never have struck. He would never have become consumed by the breath-taking winter landscape. He would never have discovered his voice in the thick and intoxicating peace of being utterly alone. The band’s very name, “Bon Iver” (deriving from the French phrase bon hiver, meaning “good winter”) conceived during this period, would have never come to be. The catalytic album, “For Emma, Forever Ago,” as we know it, therefore, would not exist, nor would it have set in motion the band’s many successes beyond 2008.
Locality and familiarity are beyond significant to Vernon; they are paramount. His home of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is his greatest muse, his epic love, and everything in between. Echoing this very sentiment is a tattoo Vernon has below his collarbone of Wisconsin’s outline along with the six counties he knows best, most notably Eau Claire, always honoring his home and keeping it close to his heart.
Sources:
Barton, Laura. “Cabin Fever.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 May 2008, www.theguardian.com/music/2008/may/14/popandrock.boniver.
Bon Iver. “Artist Biography.” Bon Iver, Spotify, open.spotify.com/artist/4LEiUm1SRbFMgfqnQTwUbQ.
Caramanica, Jon. “Who, What and Where Is Bon Iver?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 June 2011,
www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/magazine/who-what-and-where-is-bon-iver.html?auth=linked-google.
Deusner, Stephen M. “Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago.” Pitchfork, Pitchfork, 4 Oct. 2007, pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10709-for-emma-forever-ago/.
