heck yeah, vic’s picks is back! (at least for this week … we all know it likes to appear sporadically, but i’d love to be a bit more consistent.)
what is vic’s picks, you ask? well, in my previous life as a journalist, i enjoyed the privilege of penning a self-indulgent music column that featured my music of the moment, as well as an *old* photo of me in the header box. and with permission from the westfield leader and the scotch plains-fanwood times, the good music times shall roll again.
i’ve been wanting to review bon iver’s “for emma, forever ago” since i got it more than a year ago, but it’s an album that must be reviewed in the winter. you can click on the graphic to read it with capital letters, or you can journey on with me in the world of lowercase. so without further ado …
proving once again that bad breakups lead to creative genius, bon iver’s “for emma, forever ago” is a snowy indie album of meditations on love and the lack thereof.
after an end to a relationship, singer-songwriter justin vernon retreated to a cabin in the wisconsin woods to lick his wounds the best way a musician knows how – with a guitar. the result is a mellow set that feels like a snowy woodland cabin, the perfect album to spin on a wintry day.
the guitar strums and the layered, gentle falsetto of the opener, “flume,” set the tone for the music ahead. “for emma, forever ago” isn’t an album of stylistic surprises; at its essence, it’s an intimate, guitar-and-vocal-driven collection of lovely, thoughtful songs.
the delight of bon iver is in a different kind of surprise – a particularly lush swell of vocal harmonies, a piercing lyrical truism, a thoughtful melody. the beauty is in the subtleties.
“lump sum” slowly builds, gathering instrumental lines like a winter wind and then letting them go in an ebb and flow with acoustic guitar. a vocal swirl sweeps away as the song ends.
“skinny love” gets the album’s most assertive vocals. “and i told you to be patient, and i told you to be kind,” vernon stresses in his lower register as he works through a relationship’s crumbling. musician, heal thyself.
standouts include the feeling of freedom – both musical and emotional – in the album’s eponymous song, “for emma,” and the slow roll of “blindsided.”
but it’s the album’s closing cut, “re: stacks,” that is the real gem, the real heartbreaker. the soft, light touch he brings the guitar-and-voice reflection makes the song’s lyrics even more poignant.
“there’s a black crow sitting across from me, his wiry legs are crossed. he’s dangling my keys, he even fakes a toss. whatever could it be that has brought me to this loss?” it’s beautiful imagery coupled with a painfully honest question.
“this is not the sound of a new man or a crispy realization. it’s the sound of the unlocking and lift away,” vernon sings, his heart laid bare. and after the emotional journey we’ve traveled with him, when he sings the album’s last words, “your love will be safe with me,” you believe him. we’ve felt his loss, so we feel his sincerity. it’s a beautiful, sad thing, and as 40 seconds of silence give you a moment to let it all sink in, you can’t help but want to hear him reassure himself again.
reprinted (minus capital letters) from the february 11, 2010, edition of the westfield leader
and the scotch plains-fanwood times.
