Guide Note

Bon Iver is Folk singer-songwriter Justin Vernon's stage name.

Fast Facts

1. Name: Justin Vernon
2. Genre: Folk
3. Origin: Eau Claire, Wisconsin
4. Active: 2007-Present
5. Albums: 1
6. Label: Jagjaguwar
7. The name is French for good winter

Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, was self-released in 2007. In 2008 he signed on to the Jagjaguwar label, and the company re-released his debut record that year.

• 2007: For Emma, Forever Ago

1. "Vernon gives a soulful performance full of intuitive swells and fades, his phrasing and pronunciation making his voice as much a purely sonic instrument as his guitar." -Pitchfork
2. "The album evocatively conjures the loneliness of a long northern winter, placing Vernon's lovely songs in a distant, blurred vacuum of physical and emotional isolation. " -Onion A.V. Club
3. "Equal parts awe and nostalgia, hearing Vernon's muted strums and granular falsetto fade like spun sugar into breath vapor is like seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time." -Village Voice