Justin Vernon remains ambivalent to a return for Bon Iver any time soon.
Not long after a three-year wait for a new album was brought to an end with 2011’s self-titled release, Vernon told USA Today that he ‘really felt the need to walk away from it’ and now, in a chat with Triple J, Vernon has said he remains entirely uninspired by the thought of working on any new material under the Bon Iver banner.
“I don’t really write songs anymore,” he revealed. “The last Bon Iver record was a very ‘sitting down with a guitar and writing’ kind of record. I really have to be in a specific headspace to even begin to illuminate an idea that would create another Bon Iver record, and I’m just not there.”
“I’m really honoured that Bon Iver gives me a platform to do whatever I want, but there’s only so much time you can spend digging through yourself before you become insular.”
“I’m not in a hurry to go back to that temperature. All of the music I’ve been making shifting away from Bon Iver feels really good. So if I ever do go back to Bon Iver it will be all the better for it.”
Despite Vernon’s almost immediate reluctance to continue with the collective, Bon Iver’s second album received a raptuous reception from critics, and won the Best Alternative Music Album award at the 2012 Grammys.