Bon Iver 'For Emma, Forever Ago'

I'm still amazed at how many truly great records have emerged so far this year. Many of them have been from artists who were already very familiar to me, but for the last few weeks I've been listening to an album by someone of whom I knew nothing until very recently.

Laura Barton of The Guardian wrote a column back in February praising an album called 'For Emma, Forever Ago' by Bon Iver with such enthusiasm that I simply had to find out if the record could really be as good as she made it sound. Being unwilling, and probably fundamentally unable, to wait for the album to be released by 4AD in the UK in May, I managed to get an import copy of the album and have been playing it almost every day since, trying to get a grip on what to make of a truly unique record.

Bon Iver is in fact Justin Vernon. Following a split with his previous band, Vernon spent the snowy winter of 06/07 in a hunting cabin in Wisconsin, completely alone. During this time he wrote and recorded the songs on this record with a small amount of additional recording done later, mainly adding backing vocals and drums. The bulk of this record then, is simply Vernon singing and playing guitar. If you think that sounds dull, you'd be wrong.

9 songs, 37 minutes but so many melodies and hooks that your head will spin. You will find snippets of these songs appearing in your head all the time- on the train, while you're exercising, at work, in your dreams...
Vernon's voice is used as an instrument. A lot of the time you can't actually tell what he's singing without referring to the lyric sheet, he sings in a falsetto a lot of the time, but other times his voice is cracked and rough. He uses space to tremendous effect, the songs and the instruments are allowed to breathe and this makes you feel that you are sitting in the cabin with Vernon, listening to him play.

The album is very much a piece to listen to all the way through, but there are standout tracks. 'The Wolves' is simply haunting, with the bare minimum of instrumentation, Vernon lets his words hang in the space of the song. 'Creature Fear' meanwhile, has a fantastic release of a chorus that you are waiting for all through the song. 'Skinny Love' is the most catchy song here, with Vernon's voice at it's loudest and most cracked on the rousing chorus. The gorgeous final track 're:stacks' is quiet and somehow triumphant with lines like "its hard to find it when you need it/ when your money's gone/ and your as drunk as hell".

The best way I can describe this album is as a true listening experience. Listen to it enough and you'll feel like you're a part of it, as mad as that may sound. Unfortunately, though, no review is going to do this record justice or adequately describe how it sounds. I will say that whoever you are, if you are reading this you need to check this record out. You need to hear it. It may end up meaning a lot to you.

9.7

'For Emma, Forever Ago' is out now on import from Jagjaguwar and out in the UK in May through 4AD'