Any Fleet Foxes and My Morning Jacket fans that have yet to hear Bon Iver are slacking in their duties as music appreciators. Tapes ‘N Tapes disciples and Tokyo Police Club adherents will shiver in utter hullabaloo at the sound of Bon Iver’s echoing tenor and unfaltering acoustic guitar of For Emma, Forever Ago. A collection of musicians from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Bon Iver is the third and by far most successful project of singer-songwriter Justin Vernon, a true master of subtle alliteration and composition. As very attached to their hometown as they undoubtedly are, we must take this opportunity to not only respect the men of Bon Iver (thank you Michael Noyce, Sean Carey, and Matthew McCaughan for existing and playing music) but acknowledge their self-exploitation with the self-production and release of their first album For Emma, Forever Ago. All the indie kids nationwide will be bobbing their heads to this high-reaching album of love, isolation, and feeling caged.
For Emma, Forever Ago was released by Vernon in July of 2007, and was recorded for the most part in a cabin in Northern Wisconsin in utter seclusion. Looking through Vernon’s history you see not only a trend of it but a theme of that sense of ‘home’ that has developed in his music. In Bon Iver’s blog Creature Fear, Vernon gushes in a way so poetically Tao Lin, “We are home. And you may or may not know how incredible it is to say. Sean gets married this weekend. We are drinking coffee at Racy’s. We are drinking beer at the Joynt. We are eating at Egg Rolls Plus. We are driving in the sun, the sumac red trees and golden mazes. We are home.” For the most part, Vernon is more conscious of the effect of his music and the deliverance than most artists today, and surely more than your stereotypically indie group. “I don't want to be the guy with an acoustic guitar singing songs, because that's boring for the most part,” he says of a concert he once handed out lyrics to so fans could sing along, out of fear that the band by itself would not be able to replicate the full sound necessary. “The song actually needs 80–500 people singing or whatever the vibe is of that room, it needs that fight".
Tracks like ‘Lump Sum’ and ‘Skinny Love’ radiate in the ribcage of anyone who hears them, reverberating that heavy feeling of being lost or wayward. The abstractions make Bon Iver consistently universal, lyrics-wise, and beyond easy to listen to with all the figurative language. As aforementioned the alliteration Vernon sidles in to nearly every song is something truly pleasing to listen to, to say the very least, “My mile could not/ Pump the plumb/ In my arbor 'till my ardor/ Trumped every inner inertia/ Lump sum.” Another example is in Flume, the first track on the album, is not only the most chilling but the one that’s lyrics seem to have been made for the melody: “Only love is all maroon/ Lapping lakes like leary loons/ Leaving rope burns --/ Reddish ruse.” If you’re hitting up LOLLAPALOOZA in Chicago this week (as I am not, and I assure you that you have my most horrid envy), make sure to stop by Bon Iver’s tent and give them my regards. Give it a listen: www.myspace.com/boniver
