Eau Claire's Michael Noyce was 20 years old when he first went on the road with Bon Iver.

“… it got big really fast,” Noyce said in a long interview with Fresh Independence. “I was scared, I was so scared cause I felt like I had to be that good and so instead of acting like myself and working and playing music I got stuck and it is easy to let what is supposed to be define you instead of what is.”

For the last 10 years, the future of Bon Iver has never, ever been set in stone. But since self-titled-ish Grammy winner, Bon Iver, Bon Iver hit shelves in 2011, we’ve seen records from all kinds of Bon Iver alumni in the forms of The Shouting Matches, Jason Feathers, S. Carey, etc.

But now, Mikey seems to be boldly branching out on his own.

“I feel like sometimes I would be wanting things to be different and I would have an idea, but was losing my identity by compromising and having to let it go which was ridiculous,” he said. “I was in somebody else’s band.”

More recently, he’s been playing a couple shows here and there around Eau Claire with Paul Brandt and Dave Power of Meridene under the name Babe, Unrest – but just in a very casual, experimental, live-only setting. Now, it seems there’s a little more there than just that.

Along with the interview, Fresh Independence shot a gorgeous black and white video (below) of Noyce performing two songs in his house earlier this year. In the video, he’s backed up by Brandt and Power, as well as drummer Colin Carey and Gentle Guest trombonist Andy Hofer, who help round out the folky numbers with subtle touches and flourishes.

Right now the project is called Michael Noyce “as a cop out name until we figure something else out,” and it’s still on the up and up. There aren’t really songs available quite yet, but these songs and words are a good sign, I think, despite Noyce’s understandable nerves.

“This is very overwhelming for me to perform these songs,” Noyce said. “I have a lot of anxiety over it because I used to think of myself as a really good songwriter and then I stopped for a long time and now have to re-do the work. Eventually I want to get to the place where I can make a pop record. We will see if I will get there. I do not know what we will call it. I am really excited about it.”

Michael Noyce Live Session