Bon Iver - 'For Emma, Forever Ago'

If you asked me to recommend just one album released so far this year, I don't think I'd be able to.

Not because there hasn't been any worthy of recommendation.

Quite the opposite infact. We're just over 3 months into 2008 and I'm overwhelmed by the number of great records released so far. Obviously, as a music blogger, it can be hard finding the time to give every record enough time and develop an honest opinion on each one is hard. It has it's pitfalls. Especially when you're trying to fit real life in around it. It's easy to overpraise something. To get caught up in the commotion and offer outrageous hyperbole on records that may not be worthy of it. I try my best not ot. I really do. So I hope you'll belive me when I say I can't remember a year that has started with so many must have albums. No sooner have I got my ears around one great record, than another pops through my door. And so it was on Tuesday. Having spent two days drooling over REM's suprisingly great 'Accelerate', I arrived home to find yet another album that just blew me away.

But whereas almost every other record I've fawned over has been loud and upbeat, Bon Iver's 'For Emma, Forever Ago' is soft and gentle. A timeless folk record that travels at it's own pace, it is one of the prettiest records I've had the pleasure of listening to for a long time. When it's on, I found myself almost unable to do anything else. Like nothing else is as important or necessary as what I'm hearing. So enamoured was I by it's beguiling beauty that I listened to it 3 times through, leaving my seat only for liquid refreshment.

The backstory to this record sounds like one of those over romanticised PR tales designed to make the artist, and thereby the music, sound more interesting than either actually are. Justin Vernon moved to the wilderness, locked himself away for winter in a log cabin and spent his days chopping wood and doing whatever else you do when alone at one with nature. Armed only with the few instruments and recording equipment he took with him, the songs emerged and he crafted this record. So far, so adman's wet dream. The crazy thing is, that story makes perfect sense when listening to the record. It sounds remote. Cut off. It has a level of intimacy that can only be achieved after so long alone. It seems to exist at and in it's own time. Unrelated to and untroubled by anything else going on around it.

The instrumentation is sparse. Distant percussion and flourishes of extra instrumentation add depth, but for the most part the songs comprise little more than gently strummed or softly picked acoustic guitars and overlapping and double tracked vocals. And what vocals they are. An enchanting mix of Elliott Smith's semi whisper, with the falsetto of Antony Hegarty. But where Antony warbles and grates, Bon Iver is more restrained. More fragile. It makes for an odd juxtaposition of vulnerability when compared to the rough surroundings of the wilderness in which the record was created.

'For Emma, Forever Ago' is a special record. One of those that you will fall in love with. That you will return to again and again and always find something new to lose your heart to. It's an enchanting record that's sure to feature highly in a lot of end of year lists.

Bon Iver - for Emma (live acoustic session version) original version available on 'For Emma, Forever Ago'

Bon Iver - lump sum (live acoustic session version) original version available on 'For Emma, Forever Ago'

Bon Iver - flume (live acoustic session version) original version available on 'For Emma, Forever Ago'

mp3 / music / bon iver