A much-told yarn: Justin Vernon, veteran of indie bands Mount Vernon and DeYarmond Edison (nope, me neither) retreated to his father’s remote log cabin in northern Wisconsin for the winter of 2007 following a relationship breakdown and a severe bout on mononucleosis (glandular fever in English). During this prolonged sojourn he wrote and recorded a set of personal cathartic songs, playing & overdubbing all instruments, with the intention of using them as a set of demos for later projects. Encouraged by friends to release the album in its raw state, the resulting For Emma, Forever Ago appeared in early 2008 and received near universal praise and a place near the top of most critics’ “album of the year” lists.
The influence of For Emma… has been surprisingly widespread for such an understated record: Flume has been covered by Peter Gabriel and used as a backdrop to the extended end-sequence of a recent episode of House (as, previously, had Re:Stacks); Skinny Love has just enjoyed a run in the UK charts via a cover by the 15 year-old Birdy; Creature Fear and The Wolves (Act I and II) have also been featured on various American TV soundtracks. It’s probably only a matter of time before somebody blows away the X-Factor panel with an audition version of the wonderful title track.
Since this debut the only other releases under the Bon Iver moniker have been the track Brackett, WI on the 2009 AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night and the same year’s Blood Bank 4-track EP (again a solo effort, but with a much fuller “band sound” and a slightly less intense - read “cold” – feel). Justin has been busy elsewhere though, most notably on Kanye West’s bizarre (but strangely compelling) My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010; West’s Lost in The World was originally built around a sample from Blood Bank’s Woods, he invited Vernon to join him for the sessions and they ended up co-writing & recording further track Monster.
This time around Bon Iver (the act) returns as a fully-fledged 4-piece band and Bon Iver (the album) is a much more lushly-produced effort - rather than a remote log cabin and basic recording equipment, Vernon has been able to make use of his own customised studio, housed in a converted former Wisconsin veterinary clinic (!). Each of the song titles refers to a place, real or imaginary, and this was one reason why, when sent a review copy over a month ago, I originally thought the album title was Bon Iver, Bon Iver as in “New York, New York” (I still think that this would have been a better name than the unimaginative eponymous one selected).
The new collection is rather more eclectic and varied than its predecessor. This is both a bad and a good thing: it loses some of the singular identity and consistent tone of the previous effort, but it does showcase a wider variety of style and influence. The overriding mood remains firmly rooted in the melancholy though – don’t come looking here if you’re expecting a sudden adrenaline rock rush.
Perth is a strong opener. The Vernon falsetto is intact, the fuller, more electric sound enhances, rather than swamps, the slightly sombre feeling (“I’m tearing up across your face - move dust through the light to find your name”), there are angelic-sounding backing vocals and it features some engaging military drumming which recalls the ending of the aforementioned Creature Fear. Then comes Minnesota, WI, a somewhat stranger beast. It’s almost prog-rock in both its arrangement/time-signature and its lyrics (I mean: “armour let it through, borne the arboretic truth you kept posing” – come on!); with Justin’s pitching dropped a good octave, the vocals on the verses sound remarkably like Camel’s Andrew Latimer.
Elsewhere the smorgasbord of style comes thick & fast: Towers delivers string-plucked Americana à la alt-country fellow-beardies Fleet Foxes; Hinnom, TX is all dreamy phased echoes not a million miles from 10cc’s I’m Not in Love; Wash builds slowly, without ever reaching a crescendo, from a repeated 2-note piano line, taking its time to layer on subtle strings which underpin the album's most plaintive vocal.
The acoustic guitar returns to drive Halocene, perhaps the song closest in feel to Bon Iver's previous output - the "I could see for miles, miles, miles" refrain is particularly effective. Michicant is not too dissimilar to Halocene, gentle, acoustic, multi-tracked vocals over a vaguely fairground rhythm, punctuated with some short sharp (typewriter?) bells.
Calgary, the single, has been available for some time and there seems to be a general consensus that it “sounds like Coldplay”. Although it’s easy to see where this comparison comes from, the more I listen to it the more I think that it’s actually closer to The National playing over the rhythm section of The Police’s Every Breath You Take (I realise that this makes it sound a bit of a hodgepodge but, trust me, it’s a corker):
Lisbon OH (rather than the Portuguese capital) is a short & simple instrumental interlude - sustained chords from what sounds like the Bontempi organ I got for my 11th birthday punctuated with a few bleeps, leading into the closing Beth / Rest ,which probably sails closest of all of these songs to the disposable - a big production number with ringing synthesiser backing which could be lightweight Bruce Springsteen (or even Hornsby, actually!).
Bon Iver has/have (must sort out whether it’s singular or plural) managed to pull off some clever tricks with this album: it’s absolutely a recognisable Bon Iver record without sounding too much like its predecessor and, although it consists of a wide range of styles & influences, it still manages to come over as a cohesive set. I suspect that a number of people who loved the emotion and simplicity of For Emma… may be disappointed with this far grander sound & production, but I also suspect that an even larger new audience may be drawn to the undoubted commercial appeal & invention displayed here.
Bon Iver is available now on 4AD (UK), Jagjaguwar (USA) in all formats.
