Customer Reviews

Unmap

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A collection of songs that are as lush as they are layered and equal parts haunting and warm. Just when you think that this is going to be a sparse, finger-pickin' folk set, it turns left with a few surprising pop underpinnings and florid choruses. This album feels intimate, yet opens up to a wide expanse of "grand sounds". Trust me, this LP will keep you company (much like the cloak the album cover's subject wears) on a cold winter's day.

In a great stroke of fortune, Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon has teamed up with fellow Wisconson band Collections of Colonies of Bees, and as a consequence his music has never sounded better. While his Bon Iver hit For Emma, Forever Ago was a good album, it was a touch ethereal for my taste, and lacked a certain meatiness I require. But now, with a full band backing and a newfound experimentation with vocal effects, Vernon has filled the void in his music, and in the realm of dreamy-soft indie rock, Volcano Choir's music is a top pick of the year so far.

Unmap opens with Husks and Shells, a perfect introduction backboned by a meandering acoustic guitar riff that's like returning to your childhood home after years on the road and watching it poking out of ivory snow, familiarity and feeling memories flooding back, before being greeted at the door with a hot mug of cocoa and hug full of sweater. Like that,or something equally evocative and less gay. Husks and Shells sets the tone for the remaining thirty muted, roaming minutes.

Island, IS is the single and standout track, and exemplifies the gentle playfulness of the album. Lyrics, as in the rest of Unmap, are mostly fun nonsense. Here's the end of Island, IS:
Set your orbit, set your coffin
Said it's often that your "O" fits
On your old tits on your hard drive

The main difference in Volcano Choir from Vernon's other project is his use of studio tools. On Still, Vernon professes "I'm down on my mind" in punctuated serenades, each time using different layering techniques for his voice. His sung cries on the ambient And Gather are run through a similar process, this time meshing with guitar instrumentation that could fit on Bibio's Vignetting the Compost.

Unmap does have its lesser moments. Mbira in the Morass and Youlagy are almost downright unlistenable, the former featuring sparse, jaggedly mismatched instrumentation and a jarringly scratchy Vernon. But notwithstanding the couple misses, Unmap has some great tunes for those who are into the genre. And with Vernon's progress, I can't wait for what he'll put out next.

[...].

If you are looking for a melodic, sing-along album that can be easily digested, Unmap probably isn't for you. However, rarely will you find an album with enough atmospheric ambience to leave you longing for a winter landscape. (Vernon's Wisconsin influence, perhaps?)

FULL REVIEW HERE

[...]

Wisconsin's Justin Vernon (aka "Bon Iver") meets-up with the Milwaukee instrumental quintet Collections of Colonies of Bees for the first time on record, and the result is "Unmap", a long-in-the-making collection, pre-dating (apparently 2005) both Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago" and the CoCo Bees' "Birds" (both 2008).

With "Unmap", Bon Iver's troubadour-alternative style meets the experimental and edgier Coco Bees in a tasteful collage of acoustic bits and clever digital effects. Combined with Mr. Vernon's indecipherable lyrics and breathy, eerie, haunting vocals, Volcano Choir have created a sonic collage that is simultaneously interesting and accessible, ambient and indie, post-rock and non-rock. The pace throughout is mid-tempo or less, with the rougher edges of the CoCo Bees' sound shorn off. Overall, "Unmap" bears the Bon Iver songwriting imprint more-heavily than that of the CoCo Bees, in that the tracks are shorter and more song-oriented.

Unmap starts with "Husks and Shells", a simple guitar riff, repeating languidly. Pushing to the fore from a distance are Bon Iver's vocals, almost Gregorian Chant style. Despite its title, "Sleepymouth" picks-up the pace, with the CoCo Bees' identifiable guitar picking and repetitive stylings. Vocals accumulate and heighten, and the whole thing progresses into a surging, crushing density that crescendos into silence.

After a moment, "Island, Is", begins. With its verse / chorus / verse composition, it's clearly the radio-friendliest cut on "Unmap", and the one closest to Bon Iver's other recorded output. The snippet "And Gather" uses non-metrical time and what sounds like a plunky xylophone, Tibetan bells, occasional minor-key piano chords and Justin Vernon's moaning. "Still" uses the same vocal melody (and maybe even the same vocal track) from Bon Iver's composition "Woods" from the "Blood Bank" ep (2009). I was slightly surprised in the reviews I've read of "Unmap" so far that no one has mentioned this. Volcano Choir's take on this has dirge-like kettle drum percussion propelling Mr. Vernon's auto-tuned (or is it a vocoder?) vocals to a dramatic, grungy, single guitar-chord finale.

Throughout "Unmap", there is an evocation of both antiquity and loss; something fragile, something put in a closet and forgotten. Ultimately, "Unmap" is a success because it is a completely new sound, containing the best elements of both Bon Iver and Collections of Colonies of Bees, but not sounding like either of them.

I must say that I didnt buy this album but downloaded it, 'a gasp'! I like bon iver but I do find a lot of his stuff is a little too comfortable in being soft. I think there is some really cool stuff on here, and there is also stuff that really goes nowhere. unless you really love bon iver I would say not to buy this. Oh and if anybody has a problem with my review, please talk about the review and not my grammatical errors.