Ep. 25 22, A Million

Kiara Gets Drunk and Talks About Music

“Caught daylight. Goddamn right.” In Episode 25, Kiara welcomes back Lauryn (an amazing guest with an even better laugh!) via Zoom to decipher the highly stylized, math-centric album 22, A Million (2016) by Bon Iver – not to be confused with “Bonnie Bear”. In this episode we desperately seek the aid of a few Red Devil Cocktails to help us understand the complicated mind of front man Justin Vernon, offering up our takes on his lyrics, unique vernacular, meticulous mathematics, and use of symbols to create a flawlessly executed record. And in between gushing over Vernon’s signature harmonies and crediting him with the Return of the Synth, Kiara and Lauryn reflect on the album’s themes of abandonment, risk-taking, religion, and transience, as well as a very poignant sample in light of the current Black Lives Matter movement. And as always, the tangents are by the Million, including a nod to the soundtrack from Grey’s Anatomy, #ShowerThoughts, and Vernon’s immaculate bullet journal.