Bon Iver Is Back Sooner Than Expected

With modern music advertising, you’re almost guaranteed to know the exact release date of any upcoming albums months before they’re out.  Bands are tweeting, instagramming, myspacing, everything about their soon-to-be-released works.  This is no different for Bon Iver.

Except i,i came early.

The band set their release date for the end of August, but to fans’ surprise, the album was released via Youtube on the 8th.  The record trickled online track-by-track nearly three weeks early.  Twelve of the tracks were welcomed with lyric videos, with one being dropped by Bon Iver mastermind, Justin Vernon, on Reddit.

The countdown-style release of the record is not the only cryptic thing happening with i,i.  Song titles range from easily understood (“Salem”, “Faith”, “Hey, Ma”) to unintelligible (“RABi”, “iMi”, “Jelmore”).  It is speculated that these more obtuse titles comes from Vernon’s enigmatic murmurings.

Alongside the new album, Bon Iver have released a string of autumn tour dates with support from Indigo Girls, Sharon Van Etten, Feist, and Yo La Tengo.