Claude says:Justin Vernon built this at his April Base studio in Eau Claire, working with samples, synths, a Teenage Engineering OP-1, and a custom harmonizer — a sharp left turn into electronic fragmentation after the orchestral warmth of the self-titled record. You grabbed it the same year it came out and spent December 2016 with "22 (OVER S∞∞N)" and "00000 Million" on repeat, though it never settled in for the long haul. Critics compared it to Kid A for how it pushed the audience away and pulled them closer at once, and it landed at number two on the Billboard 200 despite its deliberate strangeness.