Bleep

At the onset of 2011, Justin Vernon had every right to be nervous. The follow-up to For Emma, Forever Ago, his spectral folk breakthrough as Bon Iver, was shaping up to be its sprawling antithesis. Describing the album opener in interviews as “Civil War-sounding heavy metal” and the closing song as Bruce Hornsby-raised soft rock, Vernon didn’t seem too concerned with getting pigeonholed. Ten years on, Bon Iver’s eponymous second album proved a proper introduction to Vernon’s songwriting while still allowing for the wounded vulnerability that brought him international recognition.