Rating: 7/10

Singer songwriter Justin Vernon is back with his latest project as Bon Iver: his fourth studio album ‘i,i’. It’s surprisingly been three years since the last project, ‘22, A Million‘ was released, but in that time Vernon has been touring the world, and recording a plethora of music – which fortunately is class.

It’s pretty tough to analyse a Bon Iver record. Each time I’ve listened to this album so far different aspects have stood out to me; maybe it’s a synth in a background, or a saxophone solo, or a violin tune – but Vernon and his collaborators are not amateurs, and ‘i,i‘ demonstrates their incredible musical ability.

An obvious highlight is the first single released, ‘Hey, Ma‘, which features Vernon’s passionate falsetto vocals reminiscing on childhood and his mother, with an accompanying lyric video comprising of old home video clips. The track may not reach the heights of Vernon’s most famous track, ‘Skinny Love‘, but it’s still a really amazing and beautiful song.

The album features many stellar vocal performances from Vernon, but a particular standout is the track, ‘Naeem‘. The impassioned and emotional vocals of Vernon have given me goosebumps on each listen. It definitely feels like some of the most raw music we’ve heard from Bon Iver, and it’s one of many emotional moments on the project.

Throughout the album, there are two different sorts of instrumentals. There is the more minimal musical backing, which allow Vernon’s vocals to truly lead the song, such as on ‘Marion‘, but then contrastingly on tracks like ‘Salem‘, Vernon is accompanied by various instruments all coming together perfectly. Both work perfectly, and it is nice to have a variety of styles on the project.

‘i,i’ is a great album from Bon Iver, in large part thanks to the incredible vocal performance from Justin Vernon, and the beats and instruments used throughout the project work as the perfect accompaniment, it is just a shame we’re going to have to wait another three years for another album.