Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver LP

Stereophile: Performance 4/5 Stars / Sonics 4/5 Stars

Bon Iver, Bon Iver is Justin Vernon returning to former haunts with a new spirit. The reprises are there: solitude, quietude, hope and desperation compressed but always a rhythm arises, a pulse vivified by gratitude and grace notes. The winter, the legend, has faded to just that, and this is the new momentary present. Bon Iver, Bon Iver was recorded and mixed over the course of three years at April Base Studios, a remodeled veterinarian clinic located in rural Fall Creek, Wisconsin.

Despite the importance of the other musical talents on Bon Iver, it's Justin Vernon and the potential inherent within his journey — musical, spiritual, sonic — that's marked him as a clever, gifted artist who has many moods and meditations yet to be explored. Wisely, when it comes to songwriting, Vernon sounds here as if he was content hitting singles and doubles this time out, rather than swinging for the fences and trying to top For Emma's forest of hooks. The stark, spare musical vibe heard on his previous LP and EP is back, albeit in more relaxed form, more elaborately arranged, and not nearly as mournful as that heard on For Emma...it's clear that the overall idea has been to deepen the craft evident on the landmark first album.