Bon Iver – “Naeem” Video
Bon Iver haven’t released an official music video since “Towers” in 2012, but they’ve got one today for i,i highlight “Naaem.” Its arrival is timely for two reasons: One, because Bon Iver picked up several Grammy nominations yesterday including Album Of The Year for i,i and Record Of The Year for “Hey, Ma.” Two, because the first cold-weather version of Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner’s Eaux Claires festival, known as Eaux Claires Hiver, kicks off tonight in Wisconsin and continues through Sunday.
“Naaem” is the one where Vernon sings about falling off a bass boat and having a bad, bad toke. At the Bon Iver show I attended this fall, they ended the main set with it, and for good reason; the thing just builds and builds until it bursts. It’s named after the artist formerly known as Spank Rock, but it’s probably only a coincidence that its video — Bon Iver’s first collaboration with director AG Rojas — involves a mysterious encounter with a giant floating rock in the middle of the road. No one actually spanks the rock, so.
Here’s what Rojas had to say in a press release:
Naeem is concerned with the potential for intergenerational healing, and how we choose to engage with that potential. All my admiration and love to Cynthia Rodriguez and her child Azul who brought this idea to life, and to Bon Iver for amplifying it.
Watch below.
i,i is out now on Jagjaguwar.