Bon Iver: on the new website he invites you to cover his songs

Following the release last month of his EP “Sable“, Good Iveraka Justin Vernon, is apparently encouraging fans to rework his music. The new website, called Counterpart, launched yesterday (November 1) with a cover of Sam Amidon Of “Things Behind Things Behind Things“, song taken from “Sable”.

Sam Amidon, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and son of art, he is one of the most interesting personalities of the contemporary American folk scene. He has collaborated with bands such as Tune-Yards and The Blind Boys of Alabama and with great personalities of the folk tradition such as Glen Hansard.

The home page displays a series of clips of various artists performing other Bon Iver songs, most of which are unidentified. On the site (whose launch was also taken up by Veernon’s social pages) there is also a link for sending videos, audio or photos, which visitors are invited to upload in response to requests, which will be updated regularly.

“Counterpart is a site that documents creative expression with and as Bon Iver,” reads the “About” page. “Share your photos, audio or video in response to our requests. New requests and your contributions will appear randomly.”

Currently, requests include: “Who else could embody the role of Bon Iver?”, “Could the essence of a song lie outside the voice that first sang it?”, “If a song is a container , who else could fill it?” and “Do you have a friend who looks like Justin Vernon?”.

This follows Vernon’s comments in his recent New Yorker profile, in which he asked, “Why do we like a song? Is it because of who sings it to us? Or is it the song? I just think it’s the song. For That’s how it is for me. For me it’s about the song and what the music does.”

Last month Vernon, in turn, reinterpreted someone else’s song. In fact, he participated in the remix album of Charli XCX “Brat And It’s Completely Different But Still Brat”, reworking the song “I think about it all the time”.