Editor’s Note: The Albumism staff has selected what we believe to be the 110 Best Albums of the 2010s, representing a varied cross-section of artists, genres, and styles. Click “Next Album” below to explore each album in the list or for easier navigation, view the full introduction & album index here.
BON IVER | 22, A Million
Jagjaguwar (2016)
Selected by Jeremy Levine
“Miraculous” feels like the right word. After two beautiful but generally straightforward efforts, Bon Iver threw us a curveball with their third LP. 22, A Million is of course immediately recognized as The Electronic One (well, with 2019’s wonderful i,i, it’s now One of the Electronic Ones), but focusing on its change in instrumentation is to sort of miss the point. This record is a puzzle box, with each layer of each song presenting something unashamedly beautiful—and after enough listens, you can look past it and find something else. In spite of standout tracks that represent the group’s best songwriting (see “715 – CR∑∑KS” and “29 #Strafford APTS”), 22, A Million is aggressively an album—one long sentence that starts with “It might be over soon” and ends with “well it harms me, I’ll let it in.”
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