For Emma, Forever Ago
April/16/2008 13:39 Filed in: Music
Justin Vernon's debut album, "For Emma, Forever Ago" is
steeped in mysticism, romance, and the deep
spirit of nature. Vernon sings under the
pseudonym "Bon Iver" a slight modification
of the French bon hiver, meaning "good winter",
and indeed there is an intimate presence of the
cold and dark penetrating nights of winter
pulsating throughout the album. In making the
album, Vernon retired himself to an isolated log
cabin during a Wisconsin winter for what he
called a period of "hibernation". I listen to a
whole lot of music, and I will not hesitate to
say that "For Emma, For Ever Ago" is the best
album I have listened to in 2008 and one of the
best in the last 5 years. What makes it great is
not just a transformational fusion of lulling
folk fundamentals with what Vernon calls
"neo-soul", but also the tender kinetics that
weave a fabric of songs into and out of each
other beautifully. Everything on the album
works, there are no dull moments or pointless
diversions, it is simply a collective and
wholesome masterpiece.
The album opens with the lugubrious Flume, which somehow begins in mourning and transcends into personified metaphysics, "Only love is all maroon / Gluey feathers on a flume / Sky is womb and she's the moon." Vernon's voice pierces through the harrowing, hollow guitar chords and quivering electronic sidenotes to communicate an ethereal yet poignant spiritual ascension. Indeed, his voice is layered and re-layered over itself throughout the album, ranging from heights to depths though usually rooted in an angelic falsetto. But for all his hushed fragility, Vernon always has the potential to reinforce the strength he finds in natural isolation by catapulting his voice through powerful sforzandos and accentuated fortes. "I told you to be patient / I told you to be fine / I told you to be balanced / I told you to be kind" castigates the incensed Vernon on Skinny Love. "Now all your love is wasted? / Then who the hell was I? / Now I'm breaking at the britches / And at the end of all your lies."
Vernon overcomes the lack of versatility that
sometimes detracts from other wistful folk acts like
Iron and Wine by relentlessly pushing the boundary.
Wolves (Act I & II), takes a soulful chorus
line encumbered by deep spiritual trauma ("Someday my
pain, someday my pain / Will mark you / Harness Your
blame, harness your blame / And walk through) and
infuses it with a percussive and violent retort, a
seeming refusal to acknowledge a past wrought with
painful memories ("What might have been lost - /
Don't bother me!"). And on the wonderfully percolated
"For Emma" Vernon clearly steeps himself in the
tradition of Simon & Garfunkel, but leaves
a place for incredibly nuanced brass voices,
accompanying his high pitched yearnings like a
friend that knows compassion but doesn't know
the best way to communicate it.
The highlight of the album, if I had to isolate a single song, would definitely be Re: Stacks, a hauntingly austere examination of the relationship between nature and loss. Has there ever been a more fragile song than this? It brings to mind some of the sweepingly intimate epics of Red House Painters and gives Nick Drake a run for his money in terms of poetic frailty. "I've been twisting to the sun I needed to replace / The fountain in the front yard is rusted out / All my love was down / In a frozen ground." "For Emma, Forever Ago" is clearly a cathartic act for Vernon as he isolates himself in the wintry confines of northwestern Wisconsin and confronts old wounds by recognizing their inextricable relationship with the natural world. But the album is neither about resignation nor about resolve, and catharsis is not ultimately the resolution. Instead, Vernon seems to have found what he came for in Wisconsin and seems to want to hold onto memories no matter how painful they ultimately are. "This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization / It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away / Your love will be / Safe with me."
Vernon went to the woods as a sort of Rousseaun retreat, isolated himself in a log cabin for 4 snowy months, and confronted his private tragedies and interiorized emotions. The music is particularly evocative of cold wintry nights, but somehow Vernon's embrace of universal themes and his penchant for cathartic lyrics allow the music to transcend this kind of taxonomy. I listen to the album at the break of dawn, and just as the sun goes down, here in Southern California. It is as beautiful in the open sun as it must have been in the hallowed and darkened beauty of the wilderness.
The album opens with the lugubrious Flume, which somehow begins in mourning and transcends into personified metaphysics, "Only love is all maroon / Gluey feathers on a flume / Sky is womb and she's the moon." Vernon's voice pierces through the harrowing, hollow guitar chords and quivering electronic sidenotes to communicate an ethereal yet poignant spiritual ascension. Indeed, his voice is layered and re-layered over itself throughout the album, ranging from heights to depths though usually rooted in an angelic falsetto. But for all his hushed fragility, Vernon always has the potential to reinforce the strength he finds in natural isolation by catapulting his voice through powerful sforzandos and accentuated fortes. "I told you to be patient / I told you to be fine / I told you to be balanced / I told you to be kind" castigates the incensed Vernon on Skinny Love. "Now all your love is wasted? / Then who the hell was I? / Now I'm breaking at the britches / And at the end of all your lies."
The highlight of the album, if I had to isolate a single song, would definitely be Re: Stacks, a hauntingly austere examination of the relationship between nature and loss. Has there ever been a more fragile song than this? It brings to mind some of the sweepingly intimate epics of Red House Painters and gives Nick Drake a run for his money in terms of poetic frailty. "I've been twisting to the sun I needed to replace / The fountain in the front yard is rusted out / All my love was down / In a frozen ground." "For Emma, Forever Ago" is clearly a cathartic act for Vernon as he isolates himself in the wintry confines of northwestern Wisconsin and confronts old wounds by recognizing their inextricable relationship with the natural world. But the album is neither about resignation nor about resolve, and catharsis is not ultimately the resolution. Instead, Vernon seems to have found what he came for in Wisconsin and seems to want to hold onto memories no matter how painful they ultimately are. "This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization / It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away / Your love will be / Safe with me."
Vernon went to the woods as a sort of Rousseaun retreat, isolated himself in a log cabin for 4 snowy months, and confronted his private tragedies and interiorized emotions. The music is particularly evocative of cold wintry nights, but somehow Vernon's embrace of universal themes and his penchant for cathartic lyrics allow the music to transcend this kind of taxonomy. I listen to the album at the break of dawn, and just as the sun goes down, here in Southern California. It is as beautiful in the open sun as it must have been in the hallowed and darkened beauty of the wilderness.
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