A spiritual journey between the organic and digital.
Any time Justin Vernon releases a song, it’s an event, and for good reason. Through Bon Iver, he’s never made a misstep, infusing his music with a creativity, beauty and originality rarely seen elsewhere. “Faith” is another such success story, a gorgeous mix of physical instrumentation and digital manipulation.
The song continues where 22, A Million left off, weaving into a folktronica anthem that rises and falls through different layers. There are serene acoustic guitars meeting an angelic choir meeting distorted electronic tones meeting warped vocal samples. At the center of it all is Vernon’s wonderful falsetto, floating out ethereally about how faith may be challenged or fade, but can also be restored. “I know it’s lonely in the dark/And this year’s a visitor/And we have to know that faith declines/I’m not all out of mine,” he sings with hope and resilience.
“Faith” will appear on Bon Iver’s fourth studio album, I, I, out on Aug. 30 via Jagjaguwar.