Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

I was talking about nostalgia earlier and I was also talking about fall/winter music that just happens to sound better during the coldness. The fall/winter combination of 2007 was a downright dreadful one for me and there was a constant struggle within myself to try and find some kind of music to find solace in. So much of what I had loved had been, suddenly, mired with broken thoughts that there was nowhere else to turn but towards new music. As Bon Iver, Justin Vernon’s debut For Emma, Forever Ago was that kind of new sound I was looking for. It came during a time where everything seemed darker than dark and it fittingly captures the coldness of the physical weather as well. One of the best singer-songwriter albums of the past five years or so (check out what this lowly writer poorly wrote about back in 2008) , it’s been on rotation for me with the cold weather taking over.

Dear, I remember listening to “Flume” for the first time and having nothing but tears pour down my face. As unnecessarily honest as that may be, it wasn’t so much me at the time but maybe, the gripping pull of the music that moved me to those extremes. The lovely chug of the guitar and Vernon’s soothing falsetto were instant memories and all the atmospherics – the shrilling spindle, backing vocals and the open spaces – would make for a mesmerizing beginning. Before all the black peals away to reveal some kind of white, the music tears away coming back to Vernon singing, “Only love is all maroon, gluey feathers on a flume…sky is womb and she’s the moon.” It’s such an endearing sound – a warm and calming one – and at times, moving.


What really moved be about “Creature Fear” was the way it just cascaded from such a quiet territory to something downright soaring. As somber and solemn as a lot of the music sounds, here were some gushing sounds to relish in. The opening sounds are slowly ominous, before Vernon’s frail voice shows up, “I was full by your count, I was lost but your fool.” It solidified its diversity to me then and I’d really love to know what I thought about it back then – I probably ruined some of the music with foolish decisions – but now, it’s simply gorgeous music. Now if only I could just learn how to play the guitar so I could sing, “I was teased by your blouse, spit out by your mouth” too. – Bryan