Bon Iver may be on an extended hiatus from live performance, but group leader Justin Vernon is looking back through his concert vault for the first release in a long-percolating new archival series, VOLUMES.
Out April 3 on Jagjaguwar, the debut installment is dubbed VOLUMES: ONE “SELECTIONS FROM MUSIC CONCERTS 2019-2023 BON IVER 6 PIECE BAND” and rounds up nine performances from the group’s last four years’ worth of touring before the break, plus — despite the album title — a solitary track from 2017.
The material largely focuses on Bon Iver’s more experimental music of this era from the albums 22, A Million and i,i, as performed by Vernon, Andrew Fitzpatrick, Jenn Wasner, Matthew McCaughan, Michael Lewis and Sean Carey. Also featured is the pandemic-era release “P.D.L.I.F.” and the 2014 fan favorite “HEAVENLY FATHER,” the studio version of which has long been absent from streaming services.
A cover of Mahalia Jackson’s “A Satisfied Mind” has been lifted from a 2017 show in Portland, Me.; the song was previously performed by Vernon’s pre-Bon Iver band, DeYarmond Edison.
Says Vernon of VOLUMES: ONE, which has been in the works since 2020, “this particular set of 10 songs is like, ‘here, if you’ve never heard Bon Iver, or you have and you didn’t like it, this might be for you.’ This is what we became. This is really us at our best. This is it.”
Future editions of the series will comprise other live shows, demos, unreleased recordings and other previously unheard material. Vernon talked further about the concept in a new episode for NTS Radio, which can be sampled here.
Vernon is expected to take the stage with the pickup cover band Bon Dylan in July at the return of his Eaux Claires festival in his hometown of Eau Claire, Wi.
Here is the track list for VOLUMES: ONE:
INTRO – The Forum, Los Angeles, CA. Sep 15 2019
MAN LIKE U – The Forum, Los Angeles, CA. Sep 15 2019
WE (feat. Bizhiki) – Xcel Energy Center, St Paul, MN. Oct 03 2019
JELMORE – Tennis Indoor Senayan, Jakarta, ID. Jan 19 2020
666 – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, Irving, TX. Apr 03 2022
HEAVENLY FATHER – Mediolanum, Milan, IT. Nov 05 2022
P.D.L.I.F. – Red Hill Auditorium, Perth, AU. Feb 26 2023
HEY, MA – Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago, IL. July 23 2023
A SATISFIED MIND – State Theatre, Portland, ME. Dec 08 2017
33 “GOD” – WOMADelaide Festival, Adelaide, AU. Mar 10 2023
Sh’DIAH (boardmix) – Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, CA. Oct 06 2019
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