Bon Iver have shared video footage from the first night of their Asian tour, it has emerged today (February 22).
Recorded live during Iver’s inaugural performance on their Asian tour in Seoul, Korea, last night (February 21) Justin Vernon and band played a variety of songs old and new. A fan present at the gig has uploaded four tracks to YouTube (in the players below).
PressIt;s the first time the band have played live since 2015’s Eaux Charles Festival in the summer, and follows the announcement that Vernon is writing new music at present, including new collaborative material with James Blake. Vernon announced that they would ‘wind down’ after the release of their debut album in 2011.
Watch them play ‘Perth’ and ‘Holoscene’ besides more in the players below. Junki0522 also uploaded the videos to his Instagram page.
Read More: Listen to Bon Iver’s unreleased track ‘Haven, Mass’
The last Bon Iver album was released in 2011, with Vernon stating the following year that the group were “winding it down”.
He told The Current in 2012: “[We’re] winding it down. I look at it like a faucet. I have to turn it off and walk away from it because so much of how that music comes together is subconscious or discovering. There’s so much attention on the band, it can be distracting at times. I really feel the need to walk away from it while I still care about it. And then if I come back to it – if at all – I’ll feel better about it and be renewed or something to do that.”
Now, having recently announced a new festival appearance and a collaboration with James Blake, Vernon has confirmed to Billboard that he has been working on new music.
“I’m no longer winding down,” Vernon said. “I’m not exactly sure where I am with it. I’ve been winding down for a number of years for numerous reasons. For exhaustion, exposure. It’s never died or anything to me. It’s one of those things that needs to be protected in my own spirit.”
He added: “I’ve been working on music, you know, man. It takes a long time, and I’m not sure exactly what it is or what it means to me, and until that happens I won’t really know exactly what sharing it will look like or feel like or when. There’s sort of this internal pressure, not from anybody but myself, to come out with new music for the festival. But I’m not gonna make myself do anything. I really have to take it step by step and have patience and know that the music – if it comes out, it’s gotta be really true, it’s gotta really live with the other records and extend from them and be reborn and all that. There’s a lot that goes into it. I’ve definitely been working on music.”
Vernon will team up with James Blake for an upcoming live performance, with the pair appearing under the moniker Fall Creek Boys Choir, the name of their 2011 collaboration.
The two musicians recently shared a previously unreleased collaboration called ‘Untitled 2’, which was featured on a tape sent out to people who bought early-bird tickets for Vernon’s own Eaux Claires festival, held in Wisconsin.