BON IVER - BON IVER
This choice will probably grate with some people. I sat down and thought about this list, like I always do. It`s become some kind of New Year`s tradition. To purge my mind and soul of all the music I listened to the previous year, and I listen to a lot of music. This year, one album crept into my subconscious and wouldn`t let me go, and when I started thinking about this list, the sophomore effort from Bon Iver seemed to be that record.
Bon Iver is a more expansive, lushly-detailed record that For Emma, which a had a beautiful, isolated, rustic charm. The melodies are equally beautiful but more sophisticated and layered. Justin Vernon`s voice is more wounded, heartbreaking and yearning than on For Emma, and it`s his vocal performances that bind his second album together beautifully.
The opener, "Perth" is an epic-sounding mini-masterpiece with marching drums, horns and electric guitar, that starts softly and builds to a crashing conclusion. The tender "Holocene" is one of the best songs he has recorded with a wonderful vocal performance to match. Lead off single "Calgary" visits us with the elements of an 80`s romantic movie ballad, before rolling drums and guitar lift the song into new territory.
Justin Vernon could have easily gone and made For Emma part 2, and maybe that record will appear someday, but he has made a brave decision to push his sound forward, to create something equally heartfelt but fuller in the sound and scope. I am all for this, as long as musicians don`t loose what makes them unique and on Bon Iver, Justin Vernon has done just that.
DOWNLOAD - PERTH, HOLOCENE, MICHICANT, CALGARY, BETH/REST
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