Bon Iver - 'For Emma, Forever Ago' (4AD) Released 12/05/08

Hot gossip abounds about an artist who holed up for some 3 months in his Dad's hunting cabin in the backwoods of Northern Dunn County, Northwestern Wisconsin, getting his former band (DeYarmound Edison) out of his psyche, splitting firewood in sub-zero temperatures, chomping on the two deer he shot in the forest as the tucker for the duration, as well as selling a shoulder cut for a necessary guitar repair. This was no back-to-nature-livin'-off'-the-fat-of-the-land retreat or a Walden Pond whimsy. The result is 'For Emma, Forever Ago'.

With an alt-country/woodsy/folksy production that captures the sun glistening through the dewy drops and the purity of the mountain stream, nothing is left to chance, and nature in all its stark wintry and imploding imagery help accompany the narrative. Bon Iver  (pronounced "bohn eevair") is the nom de plume of singer-songwriter Justin Vernon, an intentional mis-spelling of Bon Hiver (French for Good Winter), a greeting phrase Justin picked up from the Alaskan-based TV series 'Northern Exposure', for winter was the all too real backdrop for the ruminative formation of this collection of songs. 'For Emma, Forever Ago', shimmers with a purity and prana that displays all the talents of Vernon's iridescent falsetto vocals and multi-tracking that bely an under-lying power, this is voice as instrument with acoustic guitar and a smattering of accompaniment in the guise of flute and horns, never intruding so much as enhancing the feeling of home-in-a-shack-with-25-miles-of-isolation.

The lines of connection are drawn, tangential to the indie-folk of artists such as Elliott Smith in starkness, Neil Young's timeless 'Harvest Moon', Iron & Wine and Bonny 'Prince' Billy's arrangements, with a shading of Kurt Wagner of Lambchop and Tunde Adebimpe of TV On The Radio. Held to the light, 'For Emma, Forever Ago' could prove the eulogy to a bust-up, a gracious after-the-break-up celebratory album, or a paean to an over-industrialised world.

Opener 'Flume' captures a starrgazzy moment with an alt-country strum and a poetic turn of phrase - "...only love is all maroon/ gluey feathers on a flume...", no matter how arcane the nature-inspired lyrics here, for there is such a purity and suspense in the vocal richness. 'Lump Sum' raises the tempo a notch with an acoustic drive and textural choral overdubs, whilst 'Skinny Love' proves the catchiest tune with its' "...my my my my my my..." song-lines and a pointedness in the confusion and anger that accompanies the end of a relationship - "...now all your love is wasted?/ then who the hell was I?/ now I'm breaking at the britches...".