The Critical Asshole: Listening to...

Much ado has been made about Justin Vernon’s sophomore release from his flagship project “Bon Iver.”  We were awed and struck by the heartbreaking sincerity and rustic, dark charm of For Emma, Forever Ago.  He then whet an already voracious thirst for more by releasing Blood Bank—allegedly from the same cold, snowbound cabin in Wisconsin, a very sad and ill Justin Vernon retreated to record For Emma.  We want more.  We’ve got it and everyone is asking…Justin, do you need a hug?

Sense of “place” is clearly a very integral part of Vernon’s songwriting and the theme of every release under Bon Iver.  Bon Iver’s self-titled affair is no different.  From the ethereal and strangely melancholy “Michicant,” to the thick and boisterous single “Calgary,” even the cover of the album evokes both a wild sense of fantasy on the part of where this beautiful locale could be, and the strangeness and alien nature of the scene, as if the place exists only as a painted, fantastic cartoon landscape.

The self titled release begins with a pushed, clean electric sound on “Perth” adding horns and what sounds to be war-crying drums and Vernon’s familiar, swooning falsetto.  Intricate string sounds dot the sonic landscape eliciting a more lively eclectic feel than the somber folk we are familiar with from For Emma and Blood Bank.  More lively, yes, but the same, strangely alienated feelings.  Echos and sound delays recall a cinematic, Jon Brion type feel, but with more grandeur.  To compare the two releases would be like comparing a fear of enclosed spaces (For Emma) to a fear of wide open spaces (Bon Iver).

And almost as soon as it begins, it ends with “Beth/Rest,” an 80’s synth Peter Gabriel worldly masterpiece, like a distant transmission from a far away place.  We miss you, Justin.  Come back soon.

-Hollis Webb