Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

After Justin Vernon split from his bandmates in DeYarmond Edison, he had a lot to think about, and like so many artists before him, he chose the route of self-imposed solitude to work out his issues. In a Thoreau-esque move, Vernon retreated to his father’s remote cabin in his home state of Wisconsin and spent the winter there.

He did all the usual rustic, outdoorsy things during his time in the woods: chopped wood, hunted deer, ate deer, etc. But he also ended up writing and recording some songs under a new moniker: Bon Iver, which is purposefully misspelled French for “good winter.” After a while, Vernon realized he had made an album, and thus was born 2008’s best record yet, For Emma, Forever Ago. (He actually released the album on his own last year, but Jagjaguwar gave it a much-deserved wider distribution recently.)

It’s a story that seems a little too good to be true, something the PR folks cooked up to get some press. Similar back stories have helped sell albums before, too. When Ray LaMontagne’s debut came out, everyone knew that a.) He had worked in a shoe factory until he became inspired by a Stephen Stills song one morning, and b.) He lived in a self-built cabin with no electricity or running water.

But with Bon Iver, the album lives up to the story. Vernon has created a sound unlike any other singer/songwriter today, avoiding all of that genre’s pitfalls along the way. It starts with a voice and acoustic guitar, but the atmosphere created by everything in between is spooky, sorrowful and cathartic.

At the forefront of every song is Vernon’s layered falsetto. The thought of someone singing primarily in falsetto is probably a turn-off, but it’s used here with aplomb--nice and full, but sounding just brittle enough that you know it’s real, not a gimmick. On some songs, like popular single “Skinny Love,” that falsetto is affixed next to Vernon’s scraped, soulful cries.

All the accompanying gossamer noises feel like ever-present ghosts, as if the women Vernon sings about lingered insistently during the recording. “For Emma” adds another layer of depth with the addition of sparse horns. The instrumental “Team” is the only track that feels slightly out of place; the spring in its step just misses the ambience captured on the rest of the album.

Bon Iver’s lyrics are short snippets--quick, underexposed Polaroids of particular thoughts. And Vernon milks all he can out of a line with unusual and inspired phrasing. It all tells the story of a man surrounded only by the voice in his head, forced to wrestle his life to the ground. It’s unclear who wins the wrestling match, but from the sound of it, just the fact that a match occurred is cleansing enough. The last track, “re: stacks,” sums it up best when Vernon sings, “This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization. It’s the sound of the unlocking and the lift away.”

mp3: Bon Iver - Skinny Love