Bon Iver joins forces for Volcano Choir

Volcano Choir

Credit: Cameron Wittig

Straight from the bustling music metropolis of Wisconsin comes Jagjaguwar's newest take on the indie-rock supergroup, Volcano Choir.

The ensemble consists of Justin Vernon, better known as last year's sad-pop heatseeking missile Bon Iver, plus the five members of Collections Of Colonies Of Bees.

Volcano Choir convened to record its debut album "Unmap" in November of last year. It will be released on the supurb indie label on Sept. 22.

However, the project's origins predated even Vernon's debut as Bon Iver, when he was still part of his former band DeYarmond Edison.

"[The album] breathes and convulses in equal measure, radiating an inherent dynamism found only in the voluntary bondage of intimacy," reads a release. "With influences ranging from David Sylvian and Steve Reich to Mahalia Jackson and Tom Waits, it might be more accurate to say the group's influence is music itself."

Whatever. We just can't wait to actually hear the collaboration. What both groups do equally well are layer rhythmic patterns and melodies/counter-melodies until your cold, dark heart can scarcely stand it. Vernon's voice would sound divine over the spits-and-starts of the Colonies Of Bees' mixes, but then again he could read the phone book and we'd be entertained and gladdened.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.