for emma, forever ago

Bon Iver - The Wolves (Act I and II)
Bon Iver - Creature Fear

I think I hate the word "folk" more than any other word that is currently being used to describe music. I've often felt the way it's tossed around the "folk-" label might as well be code for any album heavy on acoustic guitar and light on anything that's going to make me want to listen to it more than once. So many bands and "singer-songwriters" utterly devoid of invention, or even the tiniest inspiration, find a comfortable place under the auspicious, endlessly-accommodating banner of folk music these days. Perhaps it was always this way. Just so you know, if it's being called folk music, I'm probably avoiding it.

So there's a good chance I might never have heard Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago. If I didn't read blogs I probably would have skipped over Bon Iver like every other band that looks to be a dude and his guitar. Given my pessimistic outlook, this album (which I'm currently loving with every fibre of my being) was quite a surprise. Innovation and personality are about the last things I expect from acoustic folk albums. But lo and behold, For Emma, Forever Ago is one of the most exciting and interesting sounding albums to be released in a long while. Bon Iver have crafted something truly wonderful: an album of acoustic guitar ballads that is startling and dynamic from beginning to end.

The texture and sense of space that the album achieves is astounding. Its sound is epic, sometimes bordering on cacophony, and yet it remains so incredibly intimate throughout its 35 minutes. I'm reminded in some ways of the enjoyment I felt listening to the Microphones' The Glow Pt. 2. It has the same closeness that obliterates any distance between music and listener, the same paradoxical endless expanse. Both albums use acoustic guitars as heartbeats and then rain a bunch of other sound down on you. There are sudden storms--so awful in their beauty--that come on with enough savagery to leave you shuddering in their wake.

For Emma, Forever Ago has a powerful melodicism that runs deeper than catchy phrasing and vocal hooks. The songs are irresistible not in the easy-to-sing-along sense--sure, there's the odd catchy line or two that I find myself humming over and over--but mostly I just feel these melodies in my bones. They're transient. You can't really sing them, and you can never quite remember how they go. . .but each time they pass by your ears they hit with such fury and emotion it's like recovering some long-lost piece of yourself.

Lastly, this goes along with the point about the transient nature of the songs, but you should be listening to this album with headphones, or you might be missing some of its mercurial beauty. I know, an acoustic folk album that's also a total headphones album. Crazy, huh?

www.myspace.com/boniver