If someone had asked me a year ago if I listened to Bon Iver, I would politely said “No,” while in my head thinking “psh, another hipster artist…” However, after a couple of recent recommendations I decided to give this project a go with a spin of his most recent release, via Spotify. First, I watched the video for “Holocene” on Youtube. While at first I found his voice to be a bit strange, by the end of the video I had been won over by the Sigur Ros-esque visuals (watch “Glosoli, for instance) and the otherworldly vibe of it.
This self-titled release avoids the dreaded sophomore slump (a cliche thing to point out in an album review, perhaps – but I believe necessary in this case). The album is diverse, yet consistent. Since I am not a professional musician, I cannot go into the detail necessary to explain all the brilliance in this record. However, I can describe it in terms of the images it evokes in my mind.
Sometimes, when you listen to a record you want to stop everything you’re doing and just take it in. This record does that. The titles in this record illustrate a journey to places that might not exist in the geographical sense, but certainly do in the imagination. The distant march-like snare in “Perth” beckons the listener to partake in this, while “Holocene” brings you into the heart of the journey with Justin Vernon’s soothing falsetto, amidst a quiet but effective acoustic melody. “Hinnom, Tx” is such that it could fit hiking in Iceland or Alaska, or driving down a road amidst, say, a Texas sunset (see the accompanying youtube video). “Wash.” and “Calgary” both sound like they would fit their respective geographic correlations. The location theme is broken in the ending opus “Beth/Rest” which kind of has a winter-esque feel. I definitely gravitate more toward “pensive” music around the holiday season and this would fit right in.
Give “Bon Iver” a listen and see where it takes you. If you are a fan, where has this journey transported you? Discuss in the comments.
Score: 5/5
I don’t even understand how I ended up here, but I believed this put up was good. I don’t realize who you are but definitely you are going to a famous blogger in case you are not already. Cheers!