7. Bon Iver – 22, A Million

We should really be used to curveballs from Bon Iver by now, but sometimes they’re so curvy they leave us completely dizzy and disorientated. For example, what are we to make of song titles like ‘715 – CRΣΣKS’ and ‘666 ʇ’?

The Wisconsin five-piece’s third album doesn’t so much dabble in electronica and glitch pop as grab it by the horns and wrestle it to the ground. Vocoders, samples, saxophones, Chipmunks-pitched vocals, they’re all here, but somehow, so are the minimalist, heartfelt, folky melodies Bon Iver have at their core, with ‘8 (circle) definitely a highlight.

Is this Bon Iver’s Kid A? Quite possibly. We might be able to make more sense of it in a few years but it deserves our respect here and now.

John Murray