Well, here we are, almost a New Year and I am getting back to the old habit of actually reviewing an album, instead of angering friends and family alike with lists of artists I hate, or failing to get my point across about live music. So I have decided to renew my reviews with a tasty little album from last year (2007, its still 2008 while I write this). Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago," was brought to my attention by my homeboy Casey and I regret that I took so long to eventually get around to listening to it, because it is good. Really good.
The album itself has a little bit of its own mythology, which always makes for interesting music. Recording in a cabin in the Wisconsin mountains (or hills? are there mountains in Wisconsin?), Justin Vernon made an album that sounds exactly like that- something recorded, in isolation, in a bare bones environment. It's a testament to his abilities as a musician and songwriter that such a spare, lonely album, is also such a captivating one. One of the obvious comparisons that people will probably make is to Iron and Wine, because of the simple, spare instrumentals, but I don't think this is an accurate comparison. I think it sounds more like an early blues recording somehow cross bred with the best of "white soul." Vernon's pained falsetto is both possessed and delicate. Come to think of it, if he hadn't hanged himself in a shitty Florida hotel, and instead sobered up, moved to a cabin and made a solo album, this could be the album that Richard Manuel was never stable enough to make.
The opening track "Flume" and the third song, "Skinny Love" are worth the purchase of the album alone. However, the fact that there is not a single bad song on this record make it one of the best I have heard in a while. The title track is the most musically complex, with horns and a soft snare drum accompanying Vernon and his guitar, but it in no way changes the feel of the album. All in all, "For Emma, Forever Ago" is a great album, one that I would recommend to anyone. It is not, however, the kind of album you will want to throw on at parties, or listen to in groups of people. Its a bit of a downer. But in the best way imaginable.
Happy New Years, all.
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