Bon Iver - Bon Iver (4/5)

I'd been looking forward to this release for 3 years, so when it came out last summer, what did I do?  Bought it and then never listened to it.  That was partly because, as I mentioned a few posts down, I haven't really been listening to music - or at least new music - for the last cople of years.  The main reason, however, is because I was afraid to listen to this one.



Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago" may or may not have been my top-ranked album of 2008, but I can't really bother to remember how to go log in to my Rate Your Music account right now to double check.  The point is, that album looms very large in my memory.  It came out at a time when I was wallowing in lot of regret and self-pity about the break-up of a long-term relationship and complete uncertainty about what I was going to do with my life, or even where I was even going to live or work.  Those songs were stripped down hymns, odes to regret, despair and loss.  At least they were to me.  It was a very personal album for me and it is inextricably linked to that period in my life.

So when Bon Iver put out his/their self-titled sophomore album in 2011, I was excited to hear it. Right up until the minute I bought it.  I never did and it has sat on my shelf for the better part of a year unheard.  Why was I afraid to listen to it?  Two reasons:  the first being that I just wasn't in that same place in my life as I was in 2008, and if this album was going to be like "For Emma, Forever Ago," I just didn't want to live through all of that in my mind again.  I didn't really want to feel any of it.  Plus, it was summer and who needs a massive bummer blasting out of the car stereo or through the iPod/iPhone/iWhatever in the middle of an extremely hot summer.  The other reason is simply that I didn't think it would live up to his debut.  That could have been one of those one-off albums that I like by an artist who would then go forever unfollowed by me again, just because I wasn't interested any more of I'd gotten out of them what I was looking for.

So, hey, that's my Bon Iver story.  If you made it this far, congratulations.  I'm not sure I'd personally read through all of that just to get to an opinion I don't care about from a guy I don't care about on some music I don't care about. 

So was I right in being afraid to listen to it?  Yes and no.  I really don't know what Justin Vernon singing about on this album.  Judging from the titles I'm going to guess it's some kind of travelogue chronicaling a relationship, or a life, or something.  The reason why I don't know what he's writing and singing about on this album is that he's added a lot of layers to his sound.  Whereas "For Emma, Forever Ago" was a stripped down, mostly acoustic affair, this album feels awash in synths and airy, textured guitars and whispy beats that somewhat obscure the vocals/lyrics.  Or maybe I'm just tuning them out to not be bothered with my own dreadful thoughts.  I'll let you listen to it and let me know.  As for the music itself, it is quite lovely.  Being the critical darling and bizarre collaborative choice of hipster artists (Kanye West!) over the last few years has certainly opened up Justin Vernon's horizons.  The final track "Beth / Rest" even sounds like something Bruce Hornsby would have done in the late '80s or early '90s.  Except good.  And cool.  And beatufiul.  And not boring.

I think my reservation about this album might be that with the added layers of production and arrangement, it's not as immediate and gripping as the previous ablum.  It doesn't cut right to my bone the same way.  But that's my problem, not Bon Iver's.  It's still a beautiful record and I look forward to it unfolding even more for me now that I've just gotten over it and listened to the damn thing.