In the summer of 2005, four friends left Wisconsin for North Carolina with a singular goal: to outrun their folk-rock doldrums. During a year of intense focus, study, and vulnerability, they did exactly that, reaching toward the ecstatic edge of New Weird America by trying out a little of everything-grindcore and gospel, free jazz and phase pieces, bluegrass and blues-and packing it into DeYarmond Edison. Maybe you know the rest? One member went home to begin what would become Bon Iver, while three stayed put to start Megafaun. Epoch is the story of DeYarmond Edison: Brad Cook, Phil Cook, Justin Vernon and Joe Westerlund, told as never before. The collection comprises five LPs, four CDs, dozens of unheard recordings and unseen photos. It's accompanied by an extensive biography from writer and cohort Grayson Haver Currin, who also serves as executive producer to the collection. All told, Epoch captures the time before these four friends became two revelatory other bands (Bon Iver, Megafaun). It's a tale of community, vision, family, and a quartet that wanted to be too good to last. There are moments of experimentation, subtle twists in the fuzz of "Epoch" and stomping approach to covering "All Tomorrow's Parties" that lay the groundwork for how both Bon Ver and Megafaun would turn acoustic music somewhat inside out. But much of Epoch underlines the group's unique lens for American Songwriting, for taking it's patchworks, finding the chords, and singing your heart out. "Trials, Troubles and Tribulations" is one example. Best known as a buried treasure duet from Justin Vernon and Sharon Van Etten, it comes back to life here in sprawling, Last Waltz style, with vocals from Megafaun, Justin Vernon, Frazy Ford and Fight the Big Bull. Each disc is a crash course in everything that built that specific body of music: photos from backyards and basements; essays detailing specific recordings; color palettes evoking time and place. At over seven hours and 55,000 words, Epoch is a maximalist collection. But you don't have to be completist to connect with what it means to hunker down with your best friends and make things, and dream for those things, and learn and struggle and grow.

Track List

1. Lp1:We Can Look Up
2. Morning
3. Feel the Light
4. Breathe
5. The Lake
6. Dusty Road So Kind
7. As Long As I Can Go
8. Right Down There in Your Tributary
9. The Orient LP2: Lift
10. Silent Signs
11. Heroin€
12. Love Long Gone
13. First Impression
14. Bones
15. Heart for Hire
16. Dead Anchor
17. Ragstock
18. We
19. Dash
20. Time to Know LP3: What Are They Doing in Heaven Today? (Live from North Carolina 2006)
21. Step It Up and Go (Live from North Carolina 2006)
22. Phil's Instrumental (Live from North Carolina 2006)
23. Louis Collins (Live from North Carolina 2006)
24. Old Dollar Mamie (Live from North Carolina 2006)
25. Two Scenes (Live from North Carolina 2006)
26. Sea Legs (Live from North Carolina 2006)
27. Abel + Cain (Live from North Carolina 2006)
28. Half Life (Live from North Carolina 2006)
29. Afro Blue (Live from North Carolina 2006)
30. Four Keyboard Phase in a (Live from North Carolina 2006)
31. Cybernetic Meadow (Live from North Carolina 2006)
32. Paul's Park (Live from North Carolina 2006)
33. Justin's Phase Piece (Live from North Carolina 2006)
34. Exercise in Abandonment (Live from North Carolina 2006)
35. Bones (Live from North Carolina 2006)
36. I Live the Life I Love (I Love the Life I Live) [Live from North Carolina 2006]
37. My Beautiful Reward (Live from North Carolina 2006)
38. A Satisfied Mind (Live from North Carolina 2006)
39. Come and Go with Me (To That Land) [Live from North Carolina 2006] LP4: Intro (Set 1) [Live from Wisconsin 2006]
40. I Been Drinking (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
41. Down on the Banks of the Ohio (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
42. Silent Signs ? (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
43. Please Find Me Here (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
44. Abel + Cain (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
45. We (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
46. Will the Circle Be Unbroken? (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
47. Afro Blue (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
48. Intro (Set 2) [Live from Wisconsin 2006]
49. The Longest Train (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
50. No Depression in Heaven (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
51. Red Shoes (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
52. Song for a Lover (Of Long Ago) [Live from Wisconsin 2006]
53. Ain't No More Cane (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
54. Easy (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
55. All Tomorrow's Parties ? (Live from Wisconsin 2006)
56. A Satisfied Mind (Live from Wisconsin 2006
57. Come and Go with Me (To That Land) [Live from Wisconsin 2006] LP5: Song for a Lover (Of Long Ago)
58. Epoch
59. Baby Done Got Your Number
60. Brief Scene
61. Where We Belong
62. Red Shoes
63. Heroin(E) [Summer Version] LP6: Hazelton
64. Frail Sail
65. Game Night
66. Easy
67. Liner
68. Song for a Lover (Of Long Ago)
69. Hannah My Ophelia LP7: Look Down That Long Lonesome Road
70. Handwriting on the Wall
71. Hands Up
72. Funeral Lights
73. Lazy Suicide (Edit)
74. Carolina Days
75. Trials Troubles Tribulations (Live from the Sydney Opera House June 1 2013)
76. Worried Mind
77. Set Me Free