735 Bon Iver - For Emma- Forever Ago (2008)

 735 Bon Iver - For Emma- Forever Ago (2008)

Studio (cabin) Album - Indie Folk



About the Act:

Bon Iver are an American Indie Folk band formed in 2006, although at the start it was just the main guy Justin Vernon, who recorded an album, and then formed a band to tour. They have now had four studio albums.

About the Album:

This was the first album, recorded in a cabin in the woods in Wisconsin, while living alone, by Justin Vernon. Some stuff was added later but mostly it's his own work.

My History with this Album:

None.

Review:

This is an odd, and somewhat remarkable album. It is predominantly acoustic guitar, and many, many, multitracked falsetto singing, with some other instruments added at points. It came as no huge surprise to me when I read up on it after listening that this was recorded by a lone man in a cabin in the woods in winter, and that the themes are lost love and mediocrity. It is cold, and spacious, like a snowscape, and as such is really evocative. It's not a party album, it's an album for listening to on headphones wile sitting in a window seat watching the autumn rain. I had it on headphones as I was doing some stuff and it slowed me down, until I was moving quite lethargically. It has pain and angst, but it's also weirdly restful. The world bleeds into the recordings in a way that most studio albums don't allow, with room atmospherics and little sounds and space, in the gaps between things.

8/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1r5JEclOv0s5S8GhFet0Wx

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbXs0eMAyRFuZ4DrqzdMfLsJZk-K7ZySC

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Emma,_Forever_Ago



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