Bon Voyage

One of the only releases that I’ve ever given a 10/10 review on EMJ is Bon Iver’s Blood Bank EP, so when I learnt that Justin Vernon was in another band I got very excited. The new band is called Volcano Choir and Vernon plays alongside members of Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, his long-time personal friends from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The group has only just released information about the new band and they have no songs up on their myspace page yet, which was only created in June. However the word via Stereogum indicates that the collaboration may have started back in 2005, when Vernon’s previous band DeYarmond Edison toured with COCOB; so they may be much older than it looks from the outside. Their first and only song made public is called ‘Island, IS’, a four minute electronic folk song, mixing North American gypsy bells, deep droning bass, foggy synths and Vernon’s delightful voice. Naturally, with Vernon on vocals the song has a very similar feel to Bon Iver, but where Iver’s songs were structured around his voice and lush vocal harmonies, Volcano Choir is more about the atmospheric melody, creating a forested environment in which a range of instruments mix together to form a western-style tribal arrangement.

Volcano Choir’s debut album Unmap is due for release on September 22 via Jagjaguwar.

 Volcano Choir- Island, IS: MP3

 Volcano Choir- Myspace

 

Posted by Nick Fulton under U.S.A