Every so often, an album comes along and unexpectedly, like a thief in the night, punches you in the gut, leaving you breathless. In a totally good way, of course. Bon Iver’s eponymous sophomore offering is such an album.
To the uninformed, Bon Iver is not a person, but rather a band led by the sickeningly talented Justin Vernon. The band name is derived from the French phrase “bon hiver”, which roughly translates as “good winter” and is pronounced “bon iv-air” and not as it is spelt. And now for the informed. There’s a stark contrast between Bon Iver’s debut, For Emma, Forever Ago, and their latest record. The latter showcases an artist that has grown in every aspect, from songwriting to the execution of the songs and everything in-between.
The production quality is streets ahead and there’s not a bad song on the record. That’s a pretty bold statement to make, but it’s true. Not one track on the album feels as if it was included as a filler. Throughout the album, Vernon shifts his vocal timbre from falsetto to baritone, sometimes even within the same song. The tracklisting reads like a backpacker’s notebook, with almost every song named after a city. The few tracks that aren’t named after cities could very well be titles of diary entries. This theme is very apt as the album takes you on a forty minute musical journey. Listening to the album almost feels like an out of body experience. It’s the audio equivalent of floating in a dream.
It’s difficult to pick the best tracks on the album because, as mentioned, each track stands alone on its own merits. Favourites would definitely be ‘Towers’, ‘Perth’ and ‘Minnesota, WI’. Expect to see this album crop up in many Top 10 lists over the coming months. Possibly even the coming years.
– Brett Schewitz
