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Bon Iver, Yeasayer Debut New Material on Late Night

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Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Yeasayer dropped by Fallon and Conan, respectively, for late night musical performances last night, and both used the platform to debut new material. Watch here.

Vernon, whose second album Bon Iver hits stores June 21, delivered an unlikely cover of Bonnie Raitt’s 1991 tune “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” which he segues with some melodies from Raitt’s other 1989 hit “The Nick of Time” and Donnie Hathaway’s classic “A Song for You.”(The Raitt cover will be included as a B-side to his forthcoming “Calgary” single.) Vernon’s rendition is achingly gorgeous: backed by nothing more than some muted piano, Vernon stands motionless on the stage, clutching himself as he let’s his voice ring out high and bright.

And in an unusual but cool change of pace for the show’s musical guest, Vernon also sat down for an interview with Fallon, who appears to be quite the Bon Iver fan. During the segment, Fallon unveiled the not-yet-in-print, “from the future” July cover of SPIN, featuring Bon Iver. Check it out at the 1:42 mark in the clip below.

Yeasayer, meanwhile, let their freak flags fly when they debuted the new tune “Devil and the Deed” on Conan. The track is one of their knottiest and challenging songs to date: stuttering, baroque-style synth melodies, hicuppy vocals from singer Anand Wilder, and an anxious, skittering boom-bap, plus all manner of zany sound effects — and did we mention the smoke machine? Wild, weird, and cool: “Devil and the Deed” is the kind of technically-challeneged art-rock that both Peter Gabriel and Bach would dig.

Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon chats with Jimmy Fallon (see SPIN’s July 2011 cover at the 1:42 mark)

Bon Iver performs on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Yeasayer Performs on Conan