‘Woods’: The 2009 song that started Bon Iver’s obsession with autotune
Given the sparse and remote setting Justin Vernon was frequently associated with when Bon Iver was first established as a project, his pivot into using autotune came as something of a shock to those who had fallen in love with his organic approach to songwriting.
It was in a log cabin in the depths of the Wisconsin forest that Vernon made For Emma, Forever Ago, a stark yet immediately captivating debut that instantly announced Bon Iver to the world. Released entirely independently, there was little buzz surrounding the album prior to its release, but when it began gaining traction through online media, there was suddenly a rush to capture this unique and promising artist who had made one of the most mercurial records of the decade.
Indie label Jagjaguwar eventually won the race to make Bon Iver theirs, and the project has since gone on to establish itself as their flagship artist, with a further four albums under the name released via the label. Vernon’s shyness and sudden infamy initially meant that very little was known about the project due to a lack of interviews around this time, with very few able to establish whether it was a solo endeavour or a band during the initial rise.
While on paper, Bon Iver is indeed a band, it’s always been very much Vernon’s unique vision that has driven it forward, and while many who adored For Emma, Forever Ago and its acoustic intimacy would have expected things to continue in a similar vein over the course of their next few releases, he made it apparent that he wished for it to become a much more expansive project.
Between the debut and their self-titled 2011 follow-up, Bon Iver released a four-track EP called Blood Bank in 2009, which closed with a track called ‘Woods’. The song’s title and themes seemingly evoke the arboreal surroundings that Vernon worked on the first record in, but rather than having the accompaniment of a guitar as was most frequently heard on the debut, the song is instead an a capella track which sees Vernon use autotune to create layered harmonies.
At the time, the use of autotune was largely reserved for artists in the hip hop and electronic music sphere, and came with a considerable amount of baggage when employed by those in other areas of the music world due to how it was perceived as a tool used to cover up vocal imperfections and advocated for laziness.
However, Vernon’s use was deemed to be tasteful, and certainly didn’t exist as a means of hiding any blemishes. Instead, he had used autotune as an enhancement, giving his vocals a texture that wouldn’t be possible to replicate with an organic form of vocal recording, and the way he manipulates his voice on the track still creates a similarly ethereal environment to what he had managed to create on the debut.
In an interview with NPR, Vernon explained his creative decision, noting that it effectively opened a window for him to step outside of simply being one guy in a cabin with a guitar. “This, for me, was a way to extend my voice or to experiment with different techniques, or just sounds,” he argued, “It was really freeing for me to do, and I’m really happy it’s the last song on the EP.”
It’s bizarre when you look at the broader picture of where he was at the time, but despite sounding dramatically different, there are still so many key elements of the Bon Iver sound that were established on the debut still present. All this ends up being is a case of artistic exploration and expansion, one that, despite initial scepticism from listeners, became a defining and beloved characteristic of his work the further he pushed his artistic identity.
