bon iver, the nom de plume of justin vernon, is by no means new to the indie music world.  in fact, this one man band has been making music with the various bands he founded since attending high school in wisconsin.

the music of bon iver, an intentional misspelling of the french word bin hiver, translated into english as good winter, was born soon after justin's previous band, deyarmond edison broke up.  during this time, while living in a remote cabin in wisconsin, he found himself in a very creative state as he wrote and recorded the songs comprising for emma, for ever ago, bon iver's debut album which was released february 28, 2008.

there is some super stuff available online.  click here for a february 19, 2008 show recorded at d.c's rock and roll hotel, by npr's all songs considered.  click here for an in studio set/interview recorded by wnyc's soundcheck, august 21, 2008.  click here to for a march 13, 2008 set recorded at the parish in austin as a part of the legendary music/film festival, sxsw.  click here for a january 17, 2008 live performance from the current on minnesota public radio.  click here for video of a couple of songs from a march 21, 2008 gig at the mohawk, also in austin.

bon iver has a few u.s. gigs on the horizon.  click here to find out if they are playing near you.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.