22, A Million

The songs were written and produced between 2012 and 2016, and the album first premiered at Vernon's Eaux Claires festival. It makes extensive use of samples, synths and brass. Many of its sounds were made and manipulated on a Teenage Engineering OP-1 synthesizer, along with a harmonizer built for the band by Chris Messina. On this record and after, Bon Iver often worked with a group of saxophonists known as Sad Sax of Shit.

The samples include Mahalia Jackson's "How I Got Over" on 22 Over Soon, Stevie Nicks's "Wild Heart" on 10 Death Breast, The Supreme Jubilees' "Standing in the Need of Prayer" on 666 Upside Down Cross, The Toys' "A Lover's Concerto" on 21 Moon Water and Fionn Regan's "Abacus" on 00000 Million. Pitchfork called it Bon Iver's most difficult record and noted that every song has a number in its title. Rolling Stone's Will Hermes wrote that Vernon "remains an oblique lyricist, but the knottiness can be compelling." The Line of Best Fit's Paul Bridgewater wrote that it "captures personal crisis and resolution better than any album this century."

It debuted at two on the Billboard 200 with 71,000 units, 58,000 of them traditional sales, and was the highest-selling album of its week. It was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package at the 2017 Grammys. Vernon later told the Guardian that after it he cancelled a European tour because he could not leave the house.