Bon Iver Put An Unreleased Song On A Cassette And Now It’s Been Unearthed

February 10, 2016

An unreleased song from Bon Iver written circa 2009 has surfaced on a cassette.

As Pitchfork reports, a cassette was sent to early ticket holders of Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner from The National’s Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival in Wisconsin and as it turns out that tape featured some rare gold.

The festival, which will take place in August, sent out a 47 song cassette teasing the lineup, including songs from Jon Hopkins, Bruce Hornsby and Nathaniel Rateliff. It also features an unreleased song by Bon Iver titled Haven, Mass which has kindly been recorded by someone who still had a tape player lying around so we could all have a listen.

Vernon has since tweeted that it’s a “very old song” from around 2009/10. That means it was most likely recorded while he was working on the second self-titled Bon Iver record.

It’s not just unreleased Bon Iver material that makes this tape exciting. Someone has tweeted a tracklist which shows it also features an unreleased track by Fall Creek Boys Choir – the project between Vernon and James Blake. The pair previously joined forces for the song Fall Creek Boys Choir, but the inclusion on this tape makes it look likely that they will play live together at this festival.

Bon Iver headlined the festival last year debuting two new songs in the process. If this tracklist does feature only artists on the lineup for the festival, it looks like Bon Iver will be returning to play again this year.

You can listen to the whole cassette below or just listen to the unreleased Bon Iver or Fall Creek Boys Choir songs if you don’t have a spare hour and 50 minutes.

Listen: Bon Iver – Haven, Mass