So let's just make it clear from the start: Bon Iver will be forever in ...Emma's shadow. As with The Strokes and Is This It, or with Radiohead and OK Computer. And Bon Iver, the new, eponymous album, isn't as good. There you've got it. Now, lets concentrate on this album on its own, and flush all the For Emma, Forever Ago comparisons down the drain!
The fact of the matter is, that Bon Iver is a magnificent album in its own right. What has happened since last time around? Well, a few sharp writers have put it more or less in lieu of Vernon, the bearded man in the cabin (and so on...), who steps outside into bright sunlight, and embraces all the euphonies of music, acoustic and electronic. There is certainly a vitality here, and the entire album is just bursting with health and verve - not unlike what happened to Sigur Rós on their last album. There is still a huge load of melancholy and graceful reflection, but it's not the frigid and lonely air of For Emma, Forever Ago. In stead, Vernon has been surrounded by good friends again, and lets all his found-again musical inspiration closely envelope his godlike voice, which is of course the album's centerpiece. For as much as Bon Iver is now described as a band, a man with a vocal timbre like Vernon's will never be just one of a bunch.
Critics have pointed out, that Vernon has sacrificed some melody on this album, compared to ...Emma, in favor of ornateness and multi-faceted orchestrations. There could be a point to this, however delicious the fuse of acoustic and electronic instruments is on Bon Iver. I see the album as somewhat of a kaleidoscope. You know, like the binocular-shaped toy ones with little plastic doodles. A kaleidoscope is a thing with a lot of light, and a lot of different and different-colored elements, that, in a certain frequency, become very, very beautiful together.
To the good fortune of Bon Iver, everything comes together the right way pretty many times throughout the album. From the very opening riff of 'Perth', which is just startlingly beautiful, through the vocal parts surrounding "never gonna break" on 'Minnesota, WI' and "I could see for miles, miles, miles" on 'Holocene', This is one of the key tracks on the album, along with 'Towers'. These two songs together are so beautiful, each in their own way - 'Holocene' is dreamily reflective and powered by insisting drum rolls, whereas 'Towers' is just tremendously uplifting and inspiring. I love how everything just kicks off and blazes forward at 1:48, with the band, the choir and the horn section entering, inducing a mood of "let's go bloody conquering!"
The little kaleidoscopic faits accompli that recur through the album occur once again with the bicycle bell on 'Michicant'. Who doesn't connect the sound of a bicycle bell with childhood memories? Such strong and emotional pictures painted through this song as well.
The latter half of the album careens slightly, but only slightly. 'Hinnom, TX' is a beautiful ethereal piece, and 'Wash.' tags along as one of the most humble and simple tunes on the album. Lead single 'Calgary' is voluptuous, and perhaps tries a little hard, but is beautiful nonetheless. But that can be said about each and every tune on this album, right through to the much discussed closer, 'Beth/Rest'. People have labeled Vernon corny and inappropriately sardonic for including this cut, but I don't agree. As I see it, Bon Iver already juggles with so many different instruments, sounds, moods, effects and timbres on this album, so why not Bruce Hornsby-like electric pianos?
In my opinion, 'Beth/Rest' seems a logical way to conclude this album, and doesn't dip below the general standard on the latter half of the album, which, to be perfectly honest, isn't quite as good as the first half. But that's because the first half is as bloody brilliant as anything released this year, and it's a humongous feather in the cap for Bon Iver to manage the follow-up to such a highly acclaimed and, dare I say, legendary album as For Emma, Forever Ago with such a steady hand. I guess no one has done that in indie since Arcade Fire released Neon Bible.
Such a beautiful album - massive props!
