Some elusive holy spirit flows through Justin Vernon’s veins. And it carries him through mesmerizing spaces on 22, A Million, his third LP as Bon Iver. Saxophones flutter in warped clusters;banjos dance around campfires of electronic hiss; vocoder choirs emerge from white noise. After the isolated acoustic catharsis of 2007’s For Emma, Forever Ago and the art-rock grandiosity of 2011’s Bon Iver, Bon Iver Vernon took his sweet time processing a new direction. But 22, A Million is worth the five-year wait. Its 10 perplexingly titled tracks maintain the Bon Iver trademarks—the meditative croon, the abstract lyrics, the shapeshifting arrangements—but find clever ways of recontextualizing them. The percussion-free “22 (OVER S∞∞N)” is carried by Vernon’s swooping falsetto, but a collection of pitch-shifted soul samples inch the track closer than usual toward capital-G Gospel. “10 d E A T h b R E a s T” veers toward electronica, layering wacky vocal loops over speaker-rattling bass blasts and distorted drums that sound like bowling balls ricocheting off car hoods. There are gentle nods to the past: “715 – CRΣΣKS” commences with a gooey a cappella intro reminiscent of Kanye West favorite “Woods,” and the thunderous “666” recalls the drum-heavy dynamic shifts of “Minnesota, WI.” For all its fresh tricks—the jarring samples, the woodwind emphasis—the album’s emotional centerpiece is its simplest moment: “00000 Million” finds Vernon belting over creaky, gospel-hued piano chords. “Days have no numbers,” a voice sings—a burst of sunshine. And life feels limitless, indeed.