That listening party yesterday at Newbury Comics — and around the world — must have gone well, because the new Bon Iver album i,i hit streaming platforms this morning (August 8), three weeks before its planned August 30 street date.
Twelve of the album’s 13 tracks, missing only opener “Yi,” can be streamed via the Spotify playlist below, and word is it’ll circulate in its regular album form around midnight tonight. The tracks have also surfaced on YouTube.
“Recording over a long time at April Base in Wisconsin but finishing at Sonic Ranch in Texas allowed us to feel confident, comfortable, and completely free of distraction,” reads a message on the Bon Iver homepage. “The sense of community around the record grew through honest, generous inspiration within the group of artists involved in the creative process of the record. The 13 new songs on i,i complete a cycle: from the winter of For Emma, Forever Agocame the frenetic spring of Bon Iver, Bon Iver, and the unhinged summer of 22, A Million. Now, fall arrives early with i,i.”
Physical copies of i,i, which features collaborations with James Blake, Moses Sumney, Wheezy, and others, will still hit August 30 via Jagjaguwar.
In a few weeks, Bon Iver will set out on a fall tour that plays Boston’s TD Garden on October 15.