Bon Iver is an American folk band founded in 2007 by indie folk singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. In addition to Vernon the band includes Michael Noyce, Sean Carey and Matthew McCaughan. Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago independently in July 2007. The majority of that album was recorded while Vernon spent three months in a remote cabin in northwestern Wisconsin. Bon Iver won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best New Artist and Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album for their self-titled album. The name Bon Iver is derived from the French phrase bon hiver (French pronunciation: ), meaning "good winter" or "have a good winter".
Justin Vernon is joined live by Sean Carey (drums, vocals, piano), Michael Noyce (vocals, baritone guitar, guitar) and Matthew McCaughan (bass, drums, vocals). Noyce was Vernon's guitar student during high school.
Carey approached Vernon during one of the first Bon Iver shows, telling him he could play and sing all the songs. Thereafter, the two played a number of them together. McCaughan and Vernon met while on tour with indie-rock band The Rosebuds in May 2007.
Because of the extensive use of vocal harmony on the songs of For Emma, Forever Ago, Vernon was concerned that there would not be enough voices to duplicate the sound of the songs on the album in a live setting. To compensate for this problem in early performances, Vernon passed out lyrics for some songs to the audience to sing along to. In an interview with Pitchfork, Vernon described this dilemma. "I don't want to be the guy with an acoustic guitar singing songs, because that's boring for the most part. The song actually needs 80-500 people singing or whatever the vibe is of that room, it needs that fight".
Bon Iver performed at Lollapalooza 2009. Bon Iver has also performed at Austin City Limits Music Festival, Bonnaroo, Glastonbury, Coachella, Øyafestivalen, Way Out West and Sasquatch!, among others.
After the release of Bon Iver's sophomore album, the live performances underwent a great deal of change. With older performances consisting of Vernon playing guitar, while Noyce, Carey, and McCaughan varied instruments, the concerts following Bon Iver, Bon Iver involved a much larger, full band. The new lineup consisted of the original four musicians, and included Rob Moose on violin and guitar (Antony and the Johnsons, The National), Mike Lewis on bass (Andrew Bird, Happy Apple), and a horn section including Reginald Pace, Colin Stetson (Tom Waits, Arcade Fire) and C.J. Camerieri (Rufus Wainwright, Sufjan Stevens) as well. On 2 February 2012 Sasquatch! announced Bon Iver as a headliner for their 2012 festival.
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