Upon hearing that Bon Iver would headline Justin Vernon’s Eaux Claires Music Festival, there was hope that there would be more in the near future. Even though he expressed disinterest in continuing the group, Vernon confirmed that the festival appearance would be the “beginning of its third cycle” for the band. According to a Grantland interview, Vernon said there is no plans for a comeback album just yet. 
“I’ve been taking it really slow,” Vernon said about his writing process. “I don’t mean to get all cerebral about my art, but I’ve been trying to collect improvisations and collect moments. Like, real moments, [and] put them in a pot and serve them up.” He continued, “I’m thinking more, I guess, like a painter or a sculptor, like Andy Goldsworthy or something, in the way I’m putting songs together. To be clear, I’m not doing that to try and be fancy. I just think maybe I ran my course with being able to come up with new moments on the guitar.”
In the same way, the singer-songwriter does not want to get too ahead of himself with Bon Iver’s long term future. Currently, Vernon wants to focus on the immediate future, which does not include a new album or tour:

“As far as putting a record together, I don’t really know what’s happening. Our show is our main focus. We don’t have anything booked after this. We don’t have any plans. We’re not being secretive — we just don’t have any plans. It’s just about, ‘Play the show and put all of our energy into one show’ — for once in my life, let’s just play one fucking show and care just about this one show for a goddamn change. It’s better than, ‘All right, we’re going out on tour and we’re going to hit these markets and this, that, and the other.’ We might play some new stuff. I don’t know, we’re going to figure it out. I go home next week for two weeks of rehearsals and play with my boys.”

Vernon is new approach seems to be related to the band’s “overwhelming” success. During the same interview, he talks about his Bon Iver was used in Bushmills’ whiskey advertisement. “It’s run by a corporation, and you kind of forget that they’re not interested in you or really what you’re doing,” he said. “They’re interested in your popularity and your reach, and it felt really sickening after a while. Not badmouthing Bushmills the company, but I regret it. I regret it because it wasn’t us and they put my face on a fucking billboard, even though it was a cool billboard and I was with my brother and my sound engineer and we’re buds and we got drunk while we had the photo shoot.”

Vernon admits, “I just missed it. I missed the mark on that one and I let it all kind of get to me.”
Eaux Claires will take place July 17th – 18th in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The lineup features The National, Sufjan Stevens, The Tallest Man on Earth, and more.