Album Review: Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Justin Vernon’s debut LP as Bon Iver, 2008's For Emma, Forever Ago, remains a modern-day rarity for several reasons: a legitimate word-of-mouth phenomenon, its popularity was cemented by stellar reviews and astounding live performances; it managed to transcend hipsterdom, middle-class Guardian types and the Americana elite, eventually (just this year, in fact) landing slap-bang in the middle of the mainstream via that teen ‘Skinny Love’ cover; and, of course, its well-documented and oft-exaggerated backstory, which purported to offer fans an instant personal connection to the music’s creator.
 
Having since indulged in all manner of extra-curricular activities - including a surprise Kanye collaboration and extensive touring with 'soft-rock supergroup' Gayngs - the Wisconsinite now returns with a second full-length offering of fragile, delicately-woven tunes, the results of which are both stunning and surprising in equal measure.
 
From the first cracked-choir vocal on gorgeous, autumnal opener ‘Perth’ through to the very last processed beat on ‘Beth/Rest’, Bon Iver is an album that successfully marries the familiarity of folk with the progressive studio techniques that Vernon is clearly well on the way towards mastering. No sooner has a smattering of sax given way to a newfound Peter Gabriel-esque baritone on 'Minnesota, WI', for instance, than that familiar falsetto, an avalanche of drums and thick, humming keyboards take over, all pinpricked by the lyric "I’m-a lay that call back on ya". This ain't your everyday, run-of-the-mill acoustic folk record, that’s for sure.
 
But it's where banjos meet beats and carefully-draped vocals slide over Red House Painters guitars on tracks like ‘Holocene’ that the album really finds its strength. More traditional-sounding efforts (some spiked with steel pedal), such as the irresistible ‘Towers’ and piano-led ‘Wash’, are beguiling, if a little overly-similar to previous Bon Iver material; the majesty and invention of both lead single ‘Calgary’ and ‘Hinnom, TX’, however, will keep you returning in search of their strange amalgamations of the pastoral and the urban, the vague and the extremely specific.
 
Lyrically, things are just as predominantly indecipherable as before - voice used for the most part as instrument, with intonation and rhythm seemingly more important than actual content or message. This leaves room for endless investigation and, vitally, allows the listener to personalize the moments Vernon has developed. His knack for layering lyrics over his hummed melodies can produce some strange and surreal results, such as the romanticism of "For the love comes the burning young / From the liver, sweating through your tongue" on ‘Towers’, or 'Calgary''s wonderfully vivid "Who goes in and then stays inside / The demons, oh they can subside". The sticking point for some will surely be the LP’s closing track, ‘Beth/Rest’, with its ‘80s keys and proggish tendencies. Although, on a sonic level, it might not sit spectacularly well with what's gone before, it does tie in with its prevailing spirit of restless experimentation and damned fine melodies..
 
On the whole, then, while there's nothing here as instantly likable as ‘Skinny Love’, as anthemic as ‘Wolves’ or as straight-up heart-crushing as ‘Re: Stacks’, Bon Iver is a striving, searching record of great fragility, heart and beauty that echoes in the mind and heart for hours after each listen. So dense and magical is it that you’ll doubtless find yourself coming back to it time and again, as if it might somehow hold the answer to some question you can't quite put your finger on just yet. There may be no actual answers contained across these ten tracks, but it's albums like this that help our musical questions to be asked better.