In the battle of the bores, M. Ward and Justin Vernon look as bland as a Republican candidate and a former hippie going to a job interview, and have all the animation of, er, something that is inanimate.
Also, Justin sings like a bird on Dramamine and M. seems to have the blankest stare imaginable whether bringing the proceedings to a dead stop with Monsters Of Folk, playing the perfect foil for Zooey with the dreaded She & Him or warbling pop folk ditties on acoustic guitar by himself.
Song for song, M. is better then JV, say 75% of M's songs are bores, the other 25% are pretty good, he just plays them boringly. Justin is just a drag and when the song ain't there he is a draaaaaag.
And neither are particularly animated. M thinks he is charming and witty but he is like the guy you got stuck sitting next every lunch during your Freshman year at Junior High.JV is just astoundingly drab, he as colorless as England when covered in snow; he's like a gay wood chucker or something.
But which is more boring???
I would go with Justin only I've never seen Bon Iver live and I've seen M live twice and both times he was a disaster. Once, Zooey was getting over a sore throat and couldn't speak and given the job of covering for her, he failed miserably and instantly made an enemy of me for life. He was not as bad with "Monsters Of Folk" -"Baby Boomer" was one of his I think and it was pretty good. On stage, M was a straight drag but so was Jim James (only Oberst did himself any favors) so it felt more like an iffy concert than a specific disaster.
Only time will tell, really though it seems to me that Justin is beginning to unbore himself a little. His production with Kathleen Edwards earlier was pretty damn good and his song with the Chieftains… no, wait, I'm reaching. That was fairly soporific.
As for M. -the new single "Primitive Girl" gets him away from his guitar and it is a pleasant enough trifle… just boring…