Bon Iver: Last News

The National have today (August 22) released their emotive new single ‘Weird Goodbyes’, which features Bon Iver – you can listen to the song below.The track has been teased for some time, with the two artists finally confirming their collaboration last week.Speaking in a statement about ‘Weird Goodbyes’, The National’s Matt Berninger said: “It’s about letting go of the past and moving on, then later being overwhelmed by second thoughts.”On the process of making the single, the band’s Aaron Dessner added: “‘Weird Goodbyes’ was one of the first new songs we made. I was misusing drum machines, as usual, and stumbled onto this beat that got stuck in my head – it felt like something only Bryan could naturally play.

The National appear to be on the precipice of a new single release, as posters for a song titled ‘Weird Goodbyes’ (featuring Bon Iver) have begun to circulate.The band have been performing ‘Weird Goodbyes’ live, sans the guest spot from Bon Iver – which, presumably, will comprise some of its lyrics being sung by Justin Vernon – since late May. They played it for the first time in Pamplona, Spain on May 28 – the first National show to go down in three years – where it was billed on the setlist as ‘Bathwater (Mount Auburn)’. It’s been performed at seven show since, including this week’s headliner in Dillon, Colorado and at the Outlandia festival on Friday (August 12).

Bon Iver‘s premium sound system providers, L-Acoustics, have spoken to NME about the future of live sound and how they worked with Justin Vernon to design an immersive experience for fans.Before the recent show at New York City’s Forrest Hills stadium as part of the ‘Bon Iver, Bon Iver’ 10-year anniversary tour, Vernon first tapped L-Acoustics in 2018 to help create a panoramic soundscape of high-resolution audio for a gig at California’s Santa Barbara Bowl.Since then, the band have continued to work with the company – using their L-ISA Hyperreal sound technology – to create a deeper, direct auditory connection with fans.“It’s the 10 year anniversary of our album release, ‘Bon Iver, Bon Iver’, but it’s also a return after quarantine and COVID lockdown,” Vernon said of focusing on sound on their current tour. “We’ve gotten to be on the ground floor of something new,” he added, noting that “it’s not just two stacks of speakers in a room anymore.”The first time the Wisconsin indie band played their nuanced tracks via the L-ISA high-resolution speaker software, their engineer came up to Vernon after the performance and told him, “That’s the best show you’ve ever played, and it has a lot to do with that sound system.”“Overall, if we were to prioritise what we’re bringing to people out there [it’s] what goes in their ears,” the Bon Iver bandleader said of the importance of their sound quality.

Phoebe Bridgers has written a heartfelt essay for the 10th anniversary edition of Bon Iver‘s second album, ‘Bon Iver, Bon Iver’.Justin Vernon’s critically acclaimed LP, which featured the singles ‘Calgary’, ‘Holocene’, ‘Towers’ and ‘Beth/Rest’, was released in June 2011.To celebrate the anniversary, an expanded vinyl reissue of ‘Bon Iver, Bon Iver’ has now been released featuring five songs from Vernon and S. Carey’s AIR Studios session, which have never previously been released physically or through DSPs – you can buy the album here.The new version also features packaging which includes “a blind embossed version of the original cover art, and an intimate personal essay from long-time fan Phoebe Bridgers”.You can read Bridgers’ personal essay below:“You had such a big crush on that girl from camp you couldn’t even look at her,” she wrote. “But you knew a song she didn’t, so when she sat next to you on the bus you did something you would eventually learn to hate: the thing where you play a song for someone while staring at them, insisting with your eyes that they connect with it deeply and upon first listen.“Men would later do this to you with The Hold Steady and Smog and Bright Eyes and Feist and Elliott Smith.

Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and Ethan Gruska have long admired each other's work, and they'd planned on capitalizing on their long-distance friendship just as the pandemic hit. “Around March 10th of 2020 Justin was supposed to come to L.A. and we were going to spend a few days making some stuff," Gruska remembers.

Bon Iver and Ethan Gruska – best known for his production work with Phoebe Bridgers – have shared a new joint single, ‘So Unimportant’.The track arrives as part of the singles series from Sylvan Esso’s Psychic Hotline label.Speaking of the collaboration’s genesis, Justin Vernon said: “My dear friend and great drummer, JT Bates, showed me the music of Ethan Gruska a number of years ago. It’s not often that something IMMEDIATELY grasps you where you stand like his music did. It only happens a few times in one’s life.“Ethan’s musicality and touch has magic in it.

Finneas has shared a cover of Bon Iver‘s 2008 track ‘Flume’ for Spotify Singles – check it out below.Billie Eilish‘s brother and collaborator released his debut album ‘Optimist’ last October, and the new two-track live release also features a special version of the album track ‘Medieval’ alongside the Bon Iver cover.In a statement, Finneas said he was “honoured to finally be able to get into the brand new and beautiful Spotify Studios to record these songs in these special arrangements”.Listen to Finneas cover Bon Iver’s ‘Flume’ and play ‘Medieval’ for Spotify Singles below.Reviewing Finneas’ debut solo album ‘Optimist’ upon its release last year, NME said: “He made his name producing and writing for his megastar sister Billie Eilish, and now it’s Finneas’ turn to step into the spotlight. ‘Optimist’ has been a long time coming – it follows a whopping 23 singles released since 2016 – and fully justifies why he’s become the industry’s producer du jour.“The record takes two paths to do that – classic, timeless pop songwriting and something more modern and cutting-edge.

Bon Iver have announced a series of US shows across the first half of 2022.The tour will see the band head across Texas, New York, Louisiana, Maine, Pennsylvania and a number of other US states between March and June. The US dates will precede Bon Iver’s rescheduled UK and European tour dates in October and November.The shows will be supported by either Dijon or Bonny Light Horseman.

Big Red Machine and Taylor Swift have shared new song "Renegade." Big Red Machine is the collaborative project of Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner of The National. Both artists contributed to Swift's 2020 album folklore.

Big Red Machine have announced details of their second album, ‘How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?’, which will arrive this summer.The project from The National’s Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon will share the new record on August 27, via their own label 37d03d.‘How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?’ was recorded at Dessner’s Long Pond studio in upstate New York and will feature 15 songs.

Big Red Machine, the side project of Bon Iver‘s Justin Vernon and The National‘s Aaron Dessner, are teasing their return, with fans speculating that Taylor Swift is involved.The duo posted a teaser on Instagram for what appears to be a new project called ‘How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last’.They’ve also launched a website, howlongdoyouthinkitsgonnalast.com, which features similar artwork as the teaser and a clock counting down.A post shared by Big Red Machine (@bigredmachineadjv)Fans were quick to spot that the teaser features handwriting that they believe to be Swift’s, fuelling rumours that she’s involved with the new material.Notably, Vernon shared a snippet of what appeared to be a Big Red Machine track with Swift during an Instagram

Bartees Strange has covered Bon Iver’s enduring hit ‘Skinny Love’, taken from the latter’s 2008 album ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’.Strange stays true to the song’s sparse arrangement in this performance on SiriusXMU, where he also played tracks from his own album ‘Live Forever’, which arrived last year and landed on NME‘s best debut albums of 2020 list.Watch his performance below.Bartees Strange discussed his decision to cover Bon Iver on social media. “I just fucking love Justin Vernon so when they said I could do this one I was like hell yeah,” he said on Instagram.

Lemonade lost Album of the Year to Adele’s 25; even Adele didn’t think she deserved the honor. “I can’t possibly accept this award, and I’m very humbled, and I’m very grateful and gracious, but the artist of my life is Beyoncé,” she .

Nicki Minaj is not happy with the Grammy Awards.

Cardi B slammed Wiz Khalifa after he suggested that she is not self-made like Nicki Minaj.The drama began after Minaj, 37, reflected on losing the 2012 Grammy Award for Best New Artist following the Recording Academy’s announcement of the 2021 nominations on Tuesday, November 24.“Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade- went on to inspire a generation,” the “Super Bass” rapper tweeted. “They gave it to the white man Bon Iver.

Nicki Minaj has taken aim at the Grammy awards in a post on Twitter.Following the announcement of the Grammy nominations yesterday (November 25), Minaj recalled her loss to Bon Iver in the ‘Best New Artist’ category in 2012.Minaj took aim at the awards saying people should “never forget” the Grammys didn’t recognise her despite going on to “inspire a generation.”Minaj said: “Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade- went on to inspire a generation.

Nicki Minaj sometimes forgives those who have done her wrong, but she never forgets. When fans were clearly upset that The Weeknd’s After Hours was snubbed by the 63rd Grammy Awards nominees, even with “Blinding Lights” being one of the biggest songs of the year, Nicki, 37, vented about her own perceived slight at the hands of the Recording Academy. “Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade- went on to inspire a generation,” she tweeted. “They gave it to the white man Bon Iver.”

Chris Willman Music WriterTaylor Swift’s “Folklore” album may have been out for two weeks already, but that doesn’t mean that she can’t command the new-release news cycle 14 days later with a a single new song — the addition of a bonus track that was held back from the previous digital edition and is only hitting the streets now as part of the belatedly released CD package.Is “The Lakes” worth a deep dive all by itself, as the 17th track at the end of an already long tail? Yes, if you’re looking for additional madly-in-love content, additional hating-your-ex-(label) content, lusher orchestration than heard in any of the album’s previous 16 songs, or if you’re just looking for a vicarious change of British-countryside scenery.

Bon Iver have postponed their spring European tour in support of i,i until January 2021 in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The band’s April 27 show in Birmingham has been canceled outright; the April 15 and April 24 shows in Amsterdam and Lisbon, respectively, have yet to be rescheduled. Check out the full list of rescheduled dates below.

Joining Bon Iver, Bikini Kill and more