- Release date:
- February 19, 2008
- Artist/Band name:
- Bon Iver
- Record label:
- Jagjaguwar
- Official Web Site:
- http://virb.com/boniver
- Overall User Rating:
-
(2 ratings)
Why you should care: Not only is Bon Iver (according to press materials, “pronounced ‘bohn eevair,’ French for ‘good winter’ and spelled wrong on purpose”) perfect listening for the coldest of seasons but, in a totally non-depressing way, Vernon’s music makes you want to absorb it alone, with the lights off, and drift away with the pure, uncompromised power of an artist who did it his way, the right way.
Verdict: The album’s mood is so beautifully captured that you feel like you’re there as it’s being recorded, warmed by a fire in Vernon’s cabin while frozen by the anguish of his songs. His voice is gentle, pained, deliberate, with a soft delivery that punctuates when he needs to and slurs when he has to. Few debut albums have felt so stop-in-your-tracks, tell-all-your-friends remarkable, from the hushed despair of “Flume” to the broken-hearted fury of “Skinny Love” to the upbeat spirit of second-to-last-track “For Emma.” The mellow but stable closer, “Re: Stacks,” makes you believe that everything, for Vernon and for you, is going to be all right.
X-factor: Vernon performs with a full band and is surprisingly casual on stage, a relief of sorts from the album’s impression that he would be so pensive and moody at all times. Though it’s a little weird to hear someone who evokes snowy sensibility so vividly sound so—well, normal.
