Brow Beat

Bon Iver Makes Spoon’s “Inside Out” a Somber, Atmospheric Ballad

“Stripped-down” is a descriptor often applied to the music of Austin-based rock band Spoon, who have a penchant for paring a song down to its bare, most bracing essentials. So it’s a bit funny that Bon Iver’s cover of “Inside Out,” one of Spoon’s most stripped-down tunes, is somehow even more sparse and elemental than the original.

That isn’t a bad thing, though. Justin Vernon makes the song a brilliant, barely-there ballad, one held aloft by a lilting vocal performance and some gentle piano chords. The result is eerily moving.